Gone So Young
by x.yoursaturday
Summary: Sergeant Alexa Young likes to be in her comfort zone; with familiar people and familiar scenarios. However, the moment that she met General Shepherd, she had to learn to adapt, and quickly. Non OcxCanon Pairing.
1. Best of the Best

Shes not the tallest; standing at a measly 5'4. Shes not the curviest; stuck with medium-sized breasts and un-fittingly large hips in comparison. She was certainly prettier than most, though, there was no doubt about that, with fairly long dark brown and blonde hair that wisps over her green-gray eyes perfectly. Her face had light freckles that were missed by most until summer came around, when they turned a dark-brown color and were impossible to miss on her pale skin. She was a woman with a lot of self-respect. She was also a complete perfectionist. She hated failing at anything, so she tended to avoid any situation where she could potentially fail... Staying in her comfort zone was a good pace for her.

However, she was most certainly out of her comfort zone this time.

As she looked over the planes windows, she saw that they were still in the clouds, but after looking at her watch, she realized that they were almost at their destination. She took a deep breath and tried to calm herself down. Within the next hour, she would have to meet with General Shepherd. According to her Lieutenant, he was a very important man in the military, if not already indicated by his rank, who runs an elite squad of "the best of the best". ...So why the hell was she here? She was certainly proud of herself for her ranking of Sergeant, which was a task that few women had achieved based on her observations, but come on, why would someone like General Shepherd ask for a private conference with her? She was an ordinary solider serving her country. Stress "ordinary".

As the plane got lower and lower, she watched the clouds get left behind. She could now see the ground below, and she found herself staring at what she was sure was the airport in the distance.

"Alexa?"

She turned her head away from the window at the calling of her name. Seeing that it was her Lieutenant, she uncrossed her legs, moved her hand from supporting her head and sat straight up.

"Yes, sir?" She replied as formal as possible. Even though she knew he preferred it when his subordinates acted casual around him, she was preparing herself for the meeting.

"You're nervous, aren't you?" He smiled. He was an aging man, most likely in his forties, who had short brown hair that started a bit further back on his forehead, and looked a bit odd with his slight widows peak. His skin was tanned in comparison to her own, but that wasn't saying much. Her favorite part about him was his eyes, though. They were a light brown, but when you looked into them you found kindness and genuine emotion. He was dressed in a dark olive green suit with giant gold buttons, as were most armed forces men when not on field missions. His jacket was decorated with tons of pins celebrating his achievements and awards over the years. He was holding his beret in his hands for some unknown reason. Usually, army men only took them off when they were honouring a fallen solider or listening to the "star-spangled banner". At least, that's what she did.

She nodded as suddenly felt insecure about not wearing her matching olive green suit. For whatever reason, without it, she felt lost; like she didn't belong with the big boys.

"Don't worry about it, Sergent." He smiled again, taking a seat next to her. It was a small, private plane that she was being flown to DC on, and the silence had given her some time to reflect on the situation. Now that the Lieutenant was here though, she realized that she hadn't reflected enough because she was still terrified for the meeting. "Its an honor to be summoned by General Shepherd, but he is still just a man."

"Even though I'm aware of that, I'm still nervous, sir." She sighed.

"I'll be with you the whole time. Whatever happens, just remember that it is for the best."

"...Sir?" She asked, raising an eyebrow. That was her way of asking him to inform her of something that he seemed to know that she didn't.

"We land in 10 minutes. The meeting is in 15. Ready yourself, Sergent Young." He got up and left, going back to talk to the pilot, she assumed. She leaned back in her chair, wondering what the hell he meant. Even if he had come to her to talk her up and make her calm, that last sentence had her ever more concerned. Looking down at her snow white tank top and baggy desert-camo cargo pants, which were tucked into her army boots that almost went up to her knee, she began feeling self-conscious again. No uniform, and she was about to be introduced to probably the most important person she would ever meet in her life... Nice. She pulled out her iPod and flipped it so that she was holding the back-side facing her. It was a 1st generation 32GB, and she had learned from experience that the back worked wonders as a portable mirror. Her hair was completely pulled back into a high ponytail, minus a few pieces that stayed in front of her ears and refused to join the ponytail. She had a little bit of mascara on today, despite her usual "fresh face" routine.

Tucking her iPod back into her pocket, she looked at her watch and counted down the minutes until arrival. Every time the seconds hand passed by the 12 and the minute hand lurched forward, she felt another knot gather in her stomach. Finally, she felt the place descend quicker than before, and soon enough, the plane knocked her nearly out of her seat as the pilot landed. When the plane slowed, her Lieutenant re-appeared from the cockpit, and she had confirmed her earlier guess that he was conversing with the pilot.

She grabbed her backpack that had everything that she had required for her "going away" missions. When the plane came to a complete halt, he opened the door and she nodded at him. As they descended in the steps, she was caught-off guard by the amount of activity surrounding the airfield. A green jeep came driving towards them, and a friendly-looking man in uniform looked down at his clipboard as he stopped in front of them.

"Alexa Young and Lieutenant Clarke?" He read from the paper, looking up at them.

Just as she was about to correct the man, her Lieutenant beat her to it. "That's Sergent Young, young man." Obviously he could have chosen a better wording so that he didn't repeat "Young" twice, but she was thankful that he had said anything.

"Thanks, sir." She whispered as she slipped into the back of the jeep, followed by him. The young man offered a quick apology, but Alexa doubted he was sincere. He had called her that on purpose; she knew that her name came up as "SGT Alexa Young". Appearances were deceiving, she reminded herself as she relabeled him in her mind as "asshole".

When she looked around, she saw that they were headed for another airplane, this one bigger than the one that they had taken to the airfield, but still far too small to be commercial. And standing in front of the entrance to the place was a man dressed in green and white.

Alexa's heart started beating hard. She had distracted herself with the "asshole" driving the jeep long enough to forget about her earlier worries, but they were back. As they got closer, she started noticing more things about him; white hair covered by a black beret with three stars on it, his folded arm stance... The most puzzling, though, he was dressed in green and white camo; the type that solider only wore when they headed out for a mission. She took another look at the plane.

"Sir, are we boarding that plane?"

"Yes, sergeant." He replied, keeping his eyes forward.

Just as she was about to ask another question, the jeep stopped, and she noticed that they were a few seconds away from where Shepard was standing. Lieutenant Clarke opened the jeep door, and started walking towards Shepard. Alexa scooted across the seat and was about to leave when the man driving said something.

"Good luck, girl. Wherever you're headed, you've definitely need it." He smirked, and she could tell that he was mocking her.

"At least I'm not stuck here driving around the airfield. I'm out there fighting on the front lines, something that I'm guessing that you don't have the balls to do." She flipped him the bird discreetly and exited the jeep, slamming the door behind her. She wasn't just about to take somebody's shit, especially from someone that didn't know her... Especially not now.

By the time Alexa had reached the two men, they were shaking hands.

"...Good to see you again, Clarke."

"As you, Shepherd."

"And this must be the young recruit." He motioned over to her, and she saluted. She wasn't sure which context he'd used "young" in, but it referred to her either way.

"Sergeant Alexa Young, its an honor General." She stood at straight up as she could, but she was still dwarfed by the two men standing by her.

"Good to meet you, Sergeant." He reached for her hand, and she relaxed long enough to shake it. "Now, if you'd be kind enough to board the plane with me, than we'll be ready for takeoff."

"Sir." She saluted again before beginning up the plane stairs. She heard Shepherd say a few more things to Clarke before she heard footsteps continue up the stairs behind him. As she entered the plane, she waited for the two men to arrive. She saw a black beret appear, and as Shepherd entered the plane, the blonde air hostess who had been standing by secured the door shut. Shepherd motioned her to follow him as he walked through the parting of a seating area, finally sitting down near the end where there were comfy chairs opposed to the other rows of basic seats similar to the ones you sat on whilst riding the bus. As they took their seats, she looked back, but only saw the blonde air hostess walking down the walkway between the rows of chairs.

"What can I get you two?" She asked with a big smile, standing before them with her hands together in front.

"Coke and rye." Shepherd replied, more concerned with looking over a clipboard than at the woman.

"You, ma'am?" She turned towards Alexa.

"Uh, just a water is fine, thank you." She fumbled her words and barely regained enough composure to finish the sentence. She was caught off guard by the question. The blonde nodded and walked back the way she'd came.

"Excuse me, sir," Alexa spoke, her voice trumbling unwillingly, despite her best intentions.

Shepherd looked up from his clipboard briefly, giving her the go ahead nod to continue her speech before looking back at his papers.

"Isn't Lieutenant Clarke coming with us?"

"Negative. He had to take care of other matters."

Alexa cursed him in her mind, spitting on his promises of staying with her to support her. When she got back, she'd have words with him...

"Sergeant Alexa Young. Age 25. Enlisted on July 23, 2009, two days after your 18st birthday. Fresh out of high school. You moved up the ranks very fast. All of your superiors note you in a positive light." He was flipping back through pages on the clipboard, clearly summarizing what she had assumed to be a report on her.

"Thank you, sir." She nodded. The blonde women from earlier appeared with their drinks, setting down a short, wide glass in front of Shepherd with two ice cubes. She set down a tall glass for Alexa with ice cubes and a lemon wedge half in, half out of the glass. She nodded her thanks to the women, but Shepherd completely blew her off.

"Any idea why you're here today, Sergeant?" He asked, setting his clipboard down on his lap to take a sip of his drink.

"Negative, sir." She replied, taking a quick sip of the ice cold water.

"I'm in charge of an elite anti-terrorism squadron called Task Force 141, known as TF141 for short. It is filled with the best fighters that the nations could supply. I'm currently looking for a new member to do an undercover mission in Moscow. I'd like you to audition with some Rangers to see if you can make the cut.

"It'd be my honor, sir." She quickly replied, surprised by the opportunity. "By the way, where are we headed right now?"

"Firebase Phoenix, Afghanistan." He stated, taking another sip of his drink.

* * *

Quick prologue, I hope you enjoyed it : ) Please R&R.


	2. The Pit

Suddenly, something changed. That simple change was enough for Alexa to wake from her sleep. Once she was up, she realized that it was the bumping and thrashing around from the plane as it was landing. She quickly sat up, grateful that she had decided to sleep on sprawled across the regular seats rather than in front of General Shepherd. Brushing her mouth to rid of some drool, she suddenly wondered if her hair had survived the adventure. She honestly would not have cared if she was with her boys back home, getting ready to go on a mission, but her company today was much, much more important. She ran a hand over her voluminously pulled back hair, seemingly still in tact. The strands that had refused to join the rest of the ponytail seemed to still be fairly straight and didn't pull any weird tricks since she had fallen asleep. She pulled down her tank top that had ridden up a little during her sleep. Standing up, she walked down the row back to the comfy chairs that she had been sitting at earlier. Shepherd was no longer sitting there, but his documents were.

As she stared at the clipboard that was out in the open, she wondered what could possibly be written on the papers it included. There was obviously information on her, which wasn't too uncommon considering that he had summoned her to meet with her, and there was probably information on other possible recruits. But, maybe, there was something about the other members of TF141, or what they did. It would certainly make her feel more content with the situation if she had some idea of what the task force missions included.

Suddenly she heard footsteps from behind her and she whipped around, surprised to see General Shepherd.

"Oh, you're awake. I recommend using the bathroom now; the facilities at Firebase Phoenix are most likely horrid."

"Thank you, sir." She nodded as he walked by her and back to his previous seat. She didn't really need to pee that bad, but it was better safe than sorry. "How long until we're at Firebase?"

He sat down in his seat, and pulled back his camo shirt to look at his silver watch. "Approximately 3 minutes."

She thanked him again as she tried around and headed backwards, from where he had emerged. Damn, that might she had been out for hours if they were so close to landing. She looked around, eventually seeing a metal door that she had deemed the bathroom. Walking towards it, she knocked out of habit, and than slid open the door. Her hand slid across the wall, feeling for a light switch. As she slid the door shut behind her, the lights instantly turned on, and Alexa jumped. She hadn't been expected that. Turning to the left, she saw a toilet.

Once she finished her business, she pushed a small rubber button that she assumed to be the flusher. Once she heard the whirling of the water, she set down the tolilet seat. Taking a step towards the sink, she turned on the warm water before reaching for the soap. As she moved her hands back and forth, the soap foamed, filling the small airplane bathroom with the scent of vanilla. Running her hands under the water, she washed all the vanilla foam off of them. Reaching for a paper towel, she dried off her hands.

Face to face with the mirror, she confirmed her earlier thoughts that her hair was still in place. Going through her customary checklist, she checked that off, along with "bra is invisible under shirt", "belt is loose enough to be comfortable and not cause 'muffin top', but still do its job", and "eyebrows were proper and not flying all over the place". Satisfied, she slid the door open, and left the small bathroom. As she started walking back, she saw the familiar blonde hostess starting to open the door that lead off of the plane. General Shepherd was waiting for the door to open. When he noticed her, he picked up her backpack from the ground behind him and handed it to her.

"Thank you, General."

He didn't even look at her. His eyes were hungrily eating away at the door that separated them from Firebase Phoenix. When they were finally opened, Alexa was meet with the sounds of men yelling, guns firing, and just general noise. As they descended the plane stairs onto pavement, Shepherd looked at her.

"Welcome to Firebase Phoenix, Sergeant Young." Shepherd motioned to the area. "Report to Corporal Dunn; hes at 'the pit', waiting."

Before she could ask what or where the pit was, he had already walked away. Her weight fell onto the support of her right leg as her left hand rested on her hip. 'Gee, thanks for the help', was the first thing to cross her mind before the explosion of a frag grenade startled her.

"Get in the game, Young." She mumbled to herself as she started walking down the worn path that separated most of the activities. On one side, you had the Rangers training local Afghan soldiers; aiding them in aiming down the firing range, and the other side was filling with Rangers goofing off; playing basketball and sitting around smoking. She could feel their gazes upon her; it the the usual routine. Men didn't expect women on the battlefield, so seeing one running amongst the camp without the body glitter that stamped her as a whore one of the men had "enlisted" surprised them every time.

Too proud to ask for directions, she breathed a sigh of relief as she came across a sign in English that read "Live firing range" and had "The Pit" spray-painted on it messly. It lead down a set of stairs into a trench-like area where a man in full battle gear was leaning against cases of some sort, whilst holding and examining an older model of the Desert Eagle. Upon hearing footsteps behind her, she turned, seeing another man in the same gear descending the stairs. He walked past her, seemingly not seeing her.

"Hey Private. Welcome back to The Pit." The man who was leaning against the cases greeted, standing up right as he spoke. "And you must be Sergeant Young." He nodded towards her, and the man he called "Private" had looked over his shoulder at her briefly before turning back to Dunn.

"'Heard General Shepherd wants to pull a shooter from our unit for some speical op. Anyways, hes up there in observation." Coporal Dunn informed the man standing in front of her, but obviously some of his words applied to her. "Do me a favor and switch to your sidearm."

The private set his M4A1 down on one of the tables and pulled out a Desert Eagle, looking at his superior, curiously.

"See how fast that was? Remember, switching to your pistol is always faster than reloading. Anyways, smile for the cameras and don't miss... Shepherds gonna be watching. Best shooter gets to join the prima-donna squad... if that's your thing." He stepped away from the cases before flipping them open to reveal various weapons, ranging from full automatic machine guns to pistols. The Private looked over the cases for a few seconds before holstering his desert eagle and grabbing his M4A1 off the table.

"Ok, head on in. Timer starts as soon as the first target pops."

And with that, the man ran through the gate and disappeared from view. All Alexa heard to know his approximate location was his gunshots. She slid off her backpack and placed it against the trench walls.

"So what brings you to Firebase Phoenix?" Dunn asked, looking her over. Dressed that way she was, she couldn't help but feel silly.

"Shepherd." She replied, looking over the weapons. The man was silent for awhile, and when she looked over, he looked slightly irritated.

"Sorry, uh, am I allowed to use these weapons?" She asked, suddenly aware that maybe he didn't want her using the Ranger's weaponry.

"Of course, Sergeant." He replied, his face easing up a bit. "What regiment are you from?"

"3rd Special Forces Group." She replied, reaching for the MP5K. She aimed down its sight experimentally, trying to decide if she wanted to use it. It had a holographic sight, which she wasn't accustomed to using. Setting it back down, she instead picked up the SCAR-H, and followed the same procedure that she had used earlier. It had a fore grip, which she liked having on her weaponry so that the recoil was less to none. Reaching over and setting it gently on the table, she looked over the pistols.

"Hm." Dunn grunted in response, watching her as she picked over weapons. Suddenly the man from earlier came bursting through the opposite end that he had ran through, breathing heavily, bent over.

"Alright, that wasn't horrible, but that wasn't amazing either." Dunn said to the man, taking his attention off of her and walking towards him.

"Ok, head upstairs and regroup with your team." He told the man as soon as he regained his breath.

Alexa reached for the USP and lifted it up, finding that it had a tactical knife underneath it. She picked both up experimental, with her right hand holding the USP and her left hand with the knife, and crossed them at the wrist. Putting the USP in her side holster that was attached to her belt, she looked at the knife and wondered where to part it, seeing as she wasn't having a vest to slip it into. She set it back in the case, figured that she wouldn't need it. Reaching back over to grab her SCAR-H, she held it in both of her hands, and looked backwards. Dunn had guided the Private up the stairs and out of the Pit.

"You ready Sergeant?" He asked, turning around to face her. She nodded as her heart started to pound. She wondered what 'the Pit' entailed. No one had been kind enough to enlighten her, and she didn't want to ask about it. She supposed that she would have to just wait and see.

"Yes."

The gate flung open and she ran through, taking a sudden right. Three targets suddenly popped up. As she brought up her SCAR-H and looked down the sight, she took the first shot without stopping and hit a target right in the shoulder, which was apparently enough to knock it down. More comfortable with the situation now that she had figured out the basics of 'The Pit', she shot at the other two targets and continued moving forward when a whole new set of targets appeared.

"Cleared the first area! Go, go, go!" She heard Dunn yell from the starting area.

In the next batch, few of them looked like civilians. If this was like any other simulator she'd done, than she shouldn't hit those ones. Common sense. One of the targets of the enemy was actually moving right to left, which threw her off a little bit. She shot them, spraying a little more than necessary. As she ran towards the building, she nearly forgot a target on top of the building. As she entered the building, she completely went crazy and sprayed around the room, accidentally hitting one civilian. Just as she finished, she realized that the SCAR-H was out of ammo. Swearing to herself, she followed the white arrow up the stairs, not thinking about needing a weapon, just caught up in the moment.

Alexa nearly fell backwards as a large cut-out that looked similar to the others popped in front of her at the top of the stairs. Out of instinct, she punched it with her empty hand, which was apparently hard enough to knock it back. She shook her hand in pain as she swore. More targets appeared as she stepped forward and she pulled her USP from its holster, aiming and taking out the targets with precision. Moving towards what appeared to be the final area of 'The Pit', Alexa jumped down. Moving forward a little too fast, she twisted her ankle, but continued moving. She took out the targets that appeared, however she missed two of them with the first shot, due to her nearly falling because of her ankle.

There were two final targets and her USP was out of ammo. Sliding it back into her hollister, she flipped her SCAR-H around so that the butt of it was in front. Holding it with both hands, she bashed a target as hard as she could as she ran by, and proceeded to do that same to the final target that stood between her and the end. As she sprinted to the end, she nearly fell again due to her ankle. She stood hunched over as the man before her had been as she tried to slow down her heartbeat and control her breathing.

She suddenly heard Dunn chuckling. Looking up, she regained her posture. "That was, without a fucking doubt, the most creative pit run I've ever seen."

"Ha, how long did it take me?" She managed between breaths.

"49 seconds. Private beat you by 9 seconds."

"Damn." Finally having calmed her body down, she set down the empty SCAR-H along with the matching state USP. As she reached for ammo to reload the guns, Dunn put his desert eagle out in front of them.

"Don't worry, a Private will come and reload them."

"Are you sure?" She asked, raising her eyebrow. "It's really not a big deal, it'll just take ten seconds."

"No, its fine. The young ones are happy to just touch a gun." Dunn replied. "How long are you staying here for, Sergent?"

"I'm not sure, I'm here under General Shepherds direct command, so I'll have to find out from him later." Alexa shrugged, and she couldn't help but see that same angry look he had earlier slowly creep back over his face.

"I see, well if you'll accompany me than we can talk to Sergeant Foley about getting you a bunk."

"Oh, yeah, that would be great, Corporal."

"Call me Dunn, Sergeant." Dunn replied, once more fiddling with the his desert eagle.

"Than call me Young." She smiled at him as she picked up her backpack.

"Alright, Young, lets go get you a bunk." He started up the stairs back to the surface level.

The corners of his mouth curled up into something of a smile after he spoke, and she was glad that he had accepted her proposal.

* * *

Another quick chapter. Please R&R : )


	3. SSDD

Sergeant Foley wasn't exactly impressed with what he was seeing. The soldiers that they were training were spraying bullets all over the range, despite the examples that Private Allen had shown for the men, they just couldn't get it. He himself had even stepped up and had shown the men what to do, but they were still botching it up.

"Take ten, men." He called, sighing as they set down their weapons on the table.

He pulled out a cigarette and lit it, taking a long drag on it, looking at the shells that were litter all over the firing range. Turning around, he watched his men sprawled all over the lot; some playing basketball, some smoking, some working on the jeeps... Anything to keep them preoccupied.

"Sergeant!" A voice called and he looked at who had called him. It was Corporal Dunn and someone he didn't recognize. It was a short woman dressed in a white tank, baggy cargos, and huge boots that he guessed were steel-toes. He exhaled his smoke before they came as a sign of respect.

"Corperal Dunn," Foley nodded at him. "And who'se this?"

"Sergeant Alexa Young, 3rd Special Forces Group. I'm here under General Shepherd's command." She saluted briefly before dropping her arms to her side.

Foley took another long drag on her cigarette, thinking about to Shepherds conversation with him. He didn't mention that he was bringing anyone with him though...

"_Same shit, different day... You know what I'm going for, Sergeant Foley. Keep your eyes open."_

"_Got a new batch hittin' the pit today, Sir. I'll send you the best I can find."_

Definitely didn't say anything about bringing someone.

"Nice to meet you, Sergeant Young." Foley nodded again.

"We're not sure how long her visit is going to stay, so would it be possible to get her a bunk in the cabins?" Dunn asked, scratching the back of his neck.

"General Shepherd didnt tell you how long you're going to be here for?" Foley asked, raising his eyebrows in surprise. He hadnt expected that General Shepherd would just drop off a solider without instruction.

"Negative; I met with him for a meeting and now I'm here." Alexa replied, sighing. She had served in Afghanistan for a few years ago, and she had to say that nothing seemed to have changed.

"I see... I'll be sure to ask him him about it later. In the mean time, Coperal, do you have any space left in your cabin?"

"I'm not sure, I guess we'll go check that out." Dunn shrugged, looking around.

"Good to meet you, Sergeant." Alexa said as a parting motion.

As Foley watched them walk away, he wondered why Shepherd had brought her along without instruction. Was that his way of repaying the Rangers for taking away one of their men? Regardless of why she was here, and whose command she was under, she was just another solider in his army now, despite her rank. As he took a final inhalation of his cigarette, he let the smoke slowly exit his nose and mouth as he breathed. Dropping the cig, he crushed it with his boot.

"Alright men, back to the range!" He called, watching them all lazily wander back to table to retrieve their guns.

* * *

"So do you have your own squad to command in 3rd?" Dunn asked as they walked across the compound.

"No, we work as equals usually." Alexa told him, wondering where the question had came from. He was probably just trying to make small talk. His reply confirmed it.

"Oh... That's cool." Dunn replied, as he turned to one of the worn down cabins. "This is Beta house. If there's any room, you'll be staying here."

"Sounds good." She nodded as he opened the screen door, and followed him in. It was a room approximately 20m by 7m, stuffed with 10 bunk beds on either side. She knew from experience that bottom bunks were best and she also knew that they were the first ones to be claimed. Honestly, you got to tack pictures to the 'roof' of the bed, use storage under the bed, sneak out in the middle of the night without waking people up, and you also could collapse into bed when you were tired.

Dunn was looking at a sheet that was right beside the door. She guessed bed assignments. As she turned towards him and got a brief look at it, she had found out that she was right.

"Any space?" She asked, noting that most of the beds had bags on them.

"There's a top bunk over Private Allen. That alright for you?"

"Yeah, thanks Dunn." She smiled at him, but didn't get anything in return. Maybe she was acting too friendly, too fast. She couldn't help it; that's just what she did. She acted friendly with the privates especially to make them feel at home.

"Third bunk of the left." Dunn replied as he watched her walk towards it. There was something about her that seemed foreign to him; the fact that she was so professional and kind at the same time. It made him feel very content, and he had a hard time believing that he was in war-torn Afghanistan. "I'll leave you to unpack. Meet me in the mess-hall at eleven hundred hours and I'll introduce you to some of the other men."

"Alright Dunn, see you then."

He quietly opened the thin screen door and left the cabin. As the door slammed back and shut, Alexa had torn off her boots and climbed onto her bunk, her backpack in haul. It didnt have any sheets on it, but it did have a pillow, although without a case. There was a container like thing at the foot of the bed, which was the only space that the person in the top bunk received. Unzipping her big, black Roots backpack, she pulled out a small box that she unclasped and opened. Pulling out her dog tags and sliding them over her head, she sighed. She had taken them off before her shower and had forgotten to put them back on afterwards. Placing the now-empty box back in her pack, she pulled out a make-up bag. Its contents were really anything but; it included her toothbrush, toothpaste, mouthwash, lip smackers, a medium sized bottle of moisturizer, razors and shaving gel, a loofah, tampons, a bottle of painkillers, hair gel, deodorant, baby wipes, eye drops, and dry shampoo and other various hair products. She set it in the 'storage' area at the foot of her bed. Knowing that all that was left in the bag was clothing and linen, she turned it upside down and emptied the contents onto the mattress. There were several shirts, all basic shirts ranging all over the rainbow, a pair of black shorts, some white sweat pants, even a pair of dark wash boot cut jeans. A pair of white converse also fell out, covered by a tan pillowcase and matching bedsheets. Everything else that she had was in the other, smaller pocket of her pack. Grabbing everything in one go, she dumped them with the make-up bag in the container.

Picking up the uncovered pillow, she shook her pillowcase to unfold it, and covered it. Dropping it onto the bed under hers, she climbed halfway down the ladder, balancing awkwardly. She grabbed the sheets and shook to unfold them as well. Sliding her hand under the mattress and lifting it up with one hand, she slipped the sheet under the two sides that she could reach from where she was. Jumping off the ladder and landing on the ground, she grabbed her pillow off of the bunk below hers. She noticed that he had a calender tacked to the 'roof' of his bunk, with big, bold X's covering everyday up to today. Obviously, he was seeking some type of positive reinforcement for his days spent here. She threw her pillow onto her bed before climbing up the ladder and crawling onto her bed. Later she would ask where she could get a blanket from. Shuffling through her pack, she grabbed one of her three pairs of Aviator sunglasses and slid them on. Finally, tucking the sheets into the other side of the bed, she lay down, her hands behind her head.

Being back in Afganistan, now that she wasnt preoccupied with anything, had brought back some memories that she had tried to seal away. She had been there mostly doing various types of unconventional warfare missions which had a perfect success rate, however she had been pulled last minute hostage rescue that had gone horriblely wrong. Before she could think about it longer, a loud alarm suddenly went off.

Caught in the moment, she jumped off her bunk and sat down on Private Allen's bed to quickly lace up her boots. Bursting towards the door, she threw it open and surveyed the campsite.

"What the fuck?" Alexa spat, watching everyone in the camp running around, trying to get organized. Her eyes scanned over the grounds for sight of someone familiar. As she jogged over to the main dirt road that had separated the camp earlier, she saw a a convey of Humvees coming down it. Suddenly, she saw Sergeant Foley.

"Sergeant Foley!" She yelled as she saw him drive by on the shoulder. He slowed the jeep as he started to speak.

"We are going to rescue BCT-One. I assume you're ready to serve?"

"Always sir."

"Go to the last dorming cabin, and behind it is an armory. Just take a vest for now, don't bother with the full outfit." As he started to drive away, Alexa looked behind her to see if the building was visible.

"Wait sir...!" She yelled. "Foley!" She had one important question. Either he didn't hear her or couldn't waste any more time. "Who am I reporting to..." She mumbled as she took off for the cabin. What was she supposed to do? Who was she supposed to be with? As she reached the door of the final cabin, she realized that it was locked. Swearing to herself, she looked around to see if anyone was coming towards the armory with keys. Finally a group of men came, lead by one holding a key readily. She took a step away from the door, and let the man unlock it.

"Who're you?"

Alexa's head turned to face a man who was barely taller than herself. Judging from his appearance and youth, she guessed him a Private.

"Sergeant Alexa Young. I'm here to help out the Rangers." She replied, slipping her glasses off of her eyes and onto the top of her head, not fazed at all. A few years ago, she might have lost her cool, but it had become so routine in new environments that she didn't mind anymore.

The Private backed off, mumbling something of an apology. As the door to the armory was unlocked, the men entered one at a time, and the Private had let her in front of him. She thanked him as she entered the building.

It had one wall of gun weaponry on the left, and a wall of vests, helmets, and other various equipment on the right. The wall opposite to the entrance had various types of grenades, tactical knives, extra mags, C4, claymores, and she was sure that she saw even flamethrowers as well.

Looking over the green and tan vests, she picked out of the smallest one that she could find and slipped into it. Quickly shuffling through the pockets, she found that it was already to go, minus a knife. Turning on her heel and maneuvering through the crowd of men also getting ready, she observed the weapons mounted to the wall. SCAR-H, AK-47, M4A1 carbine, desert eagle, M9, Mini-Uzi, SPAS-12, G18, UMP45, USP .45, MP5k, M14 EBR, AA-12... Thinking about her experience earlier with the SCAR-H, she decided to use it. Looking over the wall for a pistol, she suddenly felt a something hitting against her shoulder. Looking around, she was surprised to see Corporal Dunn, waving a gun against her shoulder.

"Use this." Her empty hand went up to grab it, and she examined it. It was the older desert eagle that she had seen him cleaning earlier.

"Are you sure?" Alexa asked, looking surprised. She had thought that he wasn't her biggest fan, and yet, he was letting her use his personal side arm. He nodded, and she smiled, sliding it into her side holster. "Thanks. I just need to grab a knife and then I'll meet you outside."

Moving towards the back of the room through the crowd that seemed to be even bigger than a minute ago, she grabbed a knife and slid it into a pocket on the front of her vest. Shuffling through the crowd, she eventually got out, and saw Dunn leaning against the armory wall, closest to the road. She jogged over, and they began walking. She noticed the he also had a SCAR-H, except his appeared to have a scope of some type... She assumed thermal.

"Over here... We'll hitch a ride." He motioned to a jeep that was driving down the road. He walked out into the middle of the street, and the car sreeched to a halt.

"You crazy!" The driver huffed as he pushed open the doors.

"Perhaps."

* * *

He jumped off the Jeep, and ran behind the cover of destroyed truck. All he heard was the bullet spray from his fellow Rangers and the enemies across the lake. As soon as he calmed himself, he peered over his cover. The Rangers were yelling commands back and forth to each other. Suddenly he heard the whistling of an RPG missile, he jumped away from the truck; just in time. His helmet slid forward over his eyes, not covering the back of his head. The door's handle flew off in the explosion, hitting him in the back of the head. He black out momentarily.

"Get up Private Allen! Rangers lead the way! Move!" As General Shepherd finished reloading his gun, he reached for the Private's hand. He grabbed it in a daze, forgetting for a split second where he was. Suddenly aware, he noticed a building attached to the set of stairs that led to the broken bridge that the others were working on connecting. Peering out the broken window, he lined up a man on the other side of the lake and took the shot. He was unable to confirm the kill because the water in the lake kept spraying around from bullet fire and, apparently, grenades, completely obstructing his view. Running back outside the building and behind the cover of large rocks, he changed his gun to grenadier mode, and fired a couple of grenades over the lake.

"Hunter 2! Keep up the pressure on those RPG teams! If that bridgelayer gets hit, we're swimming... Hooah?" Foley yelled over the radio.

"Allen! On the bridge, 10 o'clock high! Multiple targets, take em out!"

Reloading his grenade launcher, he aimed up onto the other side of the bridge, and fired.

"Up on the bridge, far side!" Dunn yelled suddenly. Allen whipped around, surprised to see Corporal Dunn behind him, also shooting up to the bridge. There was also that woman from earlier, now dressed in a vest, but otherwise still the same as she looked earlier. She began shooting along with Dunn. Allen turned back to the bridge, and discovered that the targets had been neutralized by the two of them before he could even look back.

"They're retreating! Keep hitting them!"

Alright, maybe not neutralized, but close enough.

"Hunter 2! Bridge complete, we're oscar mike! Move out!" Foley's voice reported over the radio again.

"C'mon!" Dunn called back as he ran to the stairs that led up to the Humvee. Allen got up to follow, and Alexa was just behind him. "We're movin' out!"

Allen dashed into one of the Jeeps with a gun mounted to it. That was his job; he was the gunner. Standing up through the hole in the top of the vehicle, his hands flexing over the gun as his heartbeat increased with the release of adrenaline.

"10 seconds!" A Ranger cried.

"Hey, isn't this danger-close for the task force?" Another Ranger asked.

"C'mon, since when does Shepherd care about danger-close?" Dunn snorted. "All right, we're oscar mike!"

"All Hunter-2 victors, keep an eye out for civvies; we're not cleared to engage unless they fire first. Scan the rooftops for hostiles. Stay frosty."

"You see anything?" Someone whispered into the radio.

"I don't nothin' dude... This place is dead."

"Hooah." The man replied.

"Overlord, Hunter-2-1. We're passing tunnel Harvey, cross street Elizabeth.

"Roger that, Hunter 2-1, proceed with caution."

"Alright stay frosty you guys, this is the Wild West." Dunn called back to them.

"Roger that."

A man suddenly appeared and Allen's trigger finger nearly pressed down. He swore to himself as the man ducked down in a doorway, raising his hands in surprise.

"Watch those allies."

"Three foot-mobiles, balcony 12 o'clock. Probably militia."

Allen lifted his gun to aim at them, just in case. They made him nervous.

"...Are they armed?" Foley asked cautiously.

"Negative, they're just watching us."

Suddenly Allen noticed a fourth man, standing with his arms crossed in the window above their balcony. This situation didn't feel right.

"I bet they're scouting us." Dunn growled.

"Eh, but that doesn't mean we can shoot 'em." A ranger piped.

"Can you see 'em? Can you see 'em?"

"I don't see jack!" Dunn yelled.

But Allen did. He saw a man running across the rooftop on the tallest building they'd seen yet. Suddenly, large caliber bullets began spraying against the convoy.

"All Hunter Victors, this is Sergeant Foley. Prepare to engage, we're taking sniper fire from multiple directions."

"Prepare to engage! We're goin' in!"

"This is it; spin it up!"

Allen sighted up another man on the rooftop, and took the shot. Than another... and another. He just began spraying bullets all over the bloody rooftop, hoping to hit.

"There they are! Light 'em up!"

A fire hydrant exploded next to his car, spraying up a thirty-foot tall spurt of water. With that, all hell broke loose. Bullets came dangerously close to hitting him, and he had to resist the urge to duck back into the vehicle.

"There's too many of 'em! Back up, back up! Get us outta here! Drive!"

They suddenly turned, knocking over a chain-link fence, and proceeding down a skinny alley, which was littered with militia. An RPG whistled past his head, as a car in front of them blew up. Allen slammed down on the trigger and began spraying crazily all over the buildings. He had forgotten about the gun becoming too hot, and he began hyperventilating when the gun wouldn't fire.

"Slow down! We're getting strung out!" Foley cried over the radio, sensing his soldier's panic.

"We're cut off!" Dunn screeched.

"Push through!" Foley growled.

Another RPG flew by, and Allen shrieked. He would've had a perfect shot at that man if the gun hadn't overheated. The driver followed Foley's instructions, and pushed right into an exploded car, which dragged along with the vehicle for some time until they turned into a seemingly empty alley, but Allen still sprayed over the area, trying to make up for lost time.

"RPG top floor! Dead ahead!"

He looked around fanatically, searching for the RPG. Suddenly he saw it, but it was too time he wasn't so lucky to avoid it. The RPG knocked over the car, and Allen flew out of the top of the car, toppling to the cement. He saw Sergeant Foley topple to ground in front of him.

"We need to get off the street!" He yelled.

As Allen dove through the doorway that Foley had crawled through, he found himself amongst some other surviving Rangers. Immediately, he saw Dunn and Alexa crouching across from him. Both were scraped up pretty bad... He wondered if he looked as bad as them.

"They're moving around upstairs!" Dunn hissed, motioning towards the staircase at the end of the room.

"Get the hell away from the windows and secure the top floor! Move! Move! Somebody throw a flash bang!"

Allen reached into one of his pockets, and threw a flash bang upstairs, waiting for the explosion noise. Alexa charged right up the stairs, firing a few shots. Allen followed her upstairs, looking around. There were bodies sprawled around the top floor, accompanied by bullet holes covered the walls.

"Hunter 2-1 to Hunter 2-3! I have eyes on the school, over!"

Allen slid under a window, peering through it to look at the school Foley had motioned.

"2-1, we are combat ineffective here! We are taking heavy fire from the school, can you assist, over!"

A grenade went off just outside the house and Allen swore from the surprise. That caused Alexa to look over at him.

"Are you alright, Private?"

"Yeah... I'm fine." He mumbled.

"Keep it together 2-3! We're on the way! 2-1 out!" Foley yelled into his radio before looking over the group of Rangers in to the room. "Squad, on me, lets go! We're taking the school."

The group of soldiers reloaded their guns as they all exchanged nervous glances. Allen sighed; this wasn't how he had expected his day to go. Alexa turned to him again, her eyes staring intensely into his.

"Whats your name?"

"...Private Allen." He mumbled.

"Stay behind me and we'll get out alive, alright Private Allen?"

And than she smiled. In the midst of the explosions, bullet fire, and death around them in this hellhole, she was smiling.

* * *

Dialogue heavy, sorry. They just don't shut up in the game LOL. Please R&R : )


	4. Team Player

Despite how strong she looked, Alexa was scared. This whole situation with their vechiles being had been giving her flashbacks... Flashbacks that she had thought she'd sealed away. Looking over Private Allen's face, she was determined to make this mission a success; and if it failed, at least get the kid out alive, regardless of whether it meant her taking a bullet, losing a limb, or even dying... That was just who she was.

"Prepare to engage!" Foley yelled, standing up beside her, peering out at the battlefield.

It was a worn-looking red brick building with all the windows already shattered; whether it was from the shooting or pervious events it was unclear.

Peering around the room, she found that there was six of them; herself, Private Allen, Coporal Dunn, Sergeant Foley, and two other Rangers that she didnt reccognize. Idealy, she wanted to devote her energy to protecting Allen, however she had to spread her efforts amongst the rest of the group as well.

"Sergeant, can I lead the way?"

Everyone's head turned around to face her. Foley's eyebrows knit together as he stood in silence.

"...Negative, Sergeant. **Rangers** lead the way." He finally replied. "Now, we need to get out there and assist Hunter 2-3! Hooah!"

"Hooah!" The group shouted in unison.

Alexa sighed, her cheeks flaring out. Her hands regripped tighter on her SCAR-H as she followed Foley out the door. Jumping down the few stairs from the house, the group ran out towards the playground, taking out some milita men in the process. They found the main door to the school blown open, one of the doors was laying diangonally on the two steps up to it, and the other was no where to be seen. As the group crept onto the stairs to the school, men suddenly started shooting at them. Alexa turned around, and was pleased to see that Allen was behind her as she had instructed them to be.

"Wait until 10 seconds after Im in, and then throw a flashbang to the back of the hallway." She whispered to him, and he nodded in response, looking confused. Turning back to the group inside the school that was firing on them, she counted to three before bolting inside the halls and sliding to cover behind a conviently placed sand-bag cover. As she was running, she heard Foley yelling at her.

"What the hell are you doing?" His voice echoed from the radio attached to her vest as well as behind her.

"Trying to give us the upper hand."

She counted in her head the seconds that she had to relax before Allen threw the grenade. Right at ten, she turned around and saw Allen ready up his throw. As it left his hand, she followed it's journey through the air until she heard an explosion and voices yelling in general disarray. Jumping up, she sprayed a mag of bullets over the end of the hallway and quickly dropped back down to reload.

"Go!"

Suddenly the rest of her group was crouching behind the sand bags with her, and Foley's eyes narrowed as they meet hers. "Dont be reckless."

"Woah, watch it! Some of 'em just went into the classroom on the right!" Dunn yelled, ducking down as he reloaded.

"Hunter 2-3, this is Hunter 2-1, we're in the school. Heavy resistance." Foley said into his radio.

"Copy that Hunter 2-1."

"Private, come with me!" Alexa called behind her as she got up and ran around the sand-bag's cover, aiming down the sight of her gun as she cautiously stepped into the classroom. Suddenly she saw some movement behind what she assumed a teachers desk and fired. A body crumpled behind the desk and Alexa moved on, reloading her gun in the process. As she proceeded through the door on the other end of the classroom, she was across from Foley and Dunn, who nodded and began up the stairs, with her and Allen in pursuit. As they turned the corner to find themselves on a flat level that was between them and the next set of stairs to take them to the top-floor, Foley took out two men who were laying in wait.

"Keep moving! We need to take the heat off of Hunter 2-3!"

As they proceded up the second set of stairs, they found that it was attached to the middle of a hallway. Foley and Dunn turned left, and Alexa and Allen turned right. Suddenly, a group of men started firing, and Alexa pushed Allen down behind some cover before giving some support fire to allow Dunn and Foley to turn around.

"Yeah, I'm cutting through the history class now," Dunn added over his radio as he ducked into a room on the right.

"Roger."

"Go with him." Alexa tapped Allens shoulder, and pointed towards the room. He stood up and ran behind Dunn as they entered the room.

The room must've been clear, because a grenade came flying out the other enterance of the history class that alarmed the milita. Alexa caught a man in her sights who had picked up the grenade and was in the process of throwing it back. She aimed down her sights at the mans hand that held the grenade, and shot. His hand was knocked clean off as he started screaming. As soon as the grenade exploded, however, the hall was silent.

"Hunter 2-1 this is Hunter 2-3, thanks for the assist1 We're leaving on Hunter-Three's humvee, over!"

"Roger that 2-3."

Just as Alexa stood up fully, she was forced to drop back down into prone as she heard shots fired. Just as she got back up to crouching position, the others had seemingly cleared the next room. Dunn and Allen crept out slowly from the history class. Alexa got up and caught up with Foley who was already on his way over to them.

"Eyes open." Alexa purred, her eyes scanning the room slowly.

"I think I saw one run into the next classroom." Foley replied as they cleared the room they had entered.

As the group turned their eyes to the next classroom, Dunn moved forward, examining the room.

"Clear!"

The group jogged up to him, their weapons still readied in the case of other enemies jumping out. As they saw an exit to the building, they all dropped their guard and relaxed a bit.

"Hunter 2-1 Actual to Overlord." Foley spoke into his radio as he leaned against a table.

"Hunter 2-1 Actual, this is Overlord, send traffic."

Foley nodded to the group, and they jogged out of the building as Foley continued his speech.

"The school is secure and hostiles are withdrawing from the area. We're just moppin' up now."

Following the road, they turned and moved down a sloped alley.

"Solid copy Hunter 2-1 Actual, proceed with caution to the rally point. EPWs may still be in the area, over."

Just after they had heard that and had turned another corner, they saw movement. They all began firing at a man who was hiding behind a car.

"Roger that Overlord, thanks for the tip. Out." He turned away from the radio mounted to his chest and looked at us. "Squad, watch for enemy stragglers! Lets get to the rally point!"

They all hid behind the cover of the car that the man had been hiding behind earlier. Allen stood up and walked cautiously towards a building that had no door. As he peered in, he slammed himself flat against the wall again.

"Fuckers!" He spat before turning back to the room and firing. When he didnt hear any more shots, he reentered the room. Alexa ran after him, cutting in front just as he approached the other door.

"Behind me, Private. We're almost at the rally point... Lets not fuck it up now." As they exitted the building, they caught Dunn and Foley and they all moved together down the alley, which suddenly had a roof over top of it.

"Clear!" Foley yelled as he knifed a man who had been backed into them while firing. They continued down the alley and through an arch, which ended the alley, and suddenly Alexa heard a familar voice.

"Get the wounded to the shock trauma unit! Use my helicopter!"

It was Shepherd. He was commanding two men in full uniform as the group of four approached. Suddenly aware of their presence, he turned towards them.

"Gentlemen, good work on taking the town. Private Allen, you'll be taking order from me from now on. I'll brief you on the chopper... Lets go." He motioned for him to follow.

As Shepherd started to walk away, Allen started off of after him, looking back at the group, slowing down his pace.

"Wait, General!" Alexa yelled, taking a step towards Shepherd and Allen. The gerenal stopped and turned around, staring at her while a scowl covered his face. "A word."

"Make it quick, Sergeant." He replied, troting back towards her.

She took a few steps away from the group, and he joined her. She let her SCAR-H hang loosely in her right hand as she scracthed the back of her neck.

"Sir, what are **my** orders?"

"Sergeant Young, you are to stay with the Rangers under Sergeant Foley's command until further notice. I'm taking Private Allen with me for the empty spot in TF141."

Her eyebrows furrowed together and her mouth hung open a tad. Granted that he had beat her time in 'the pit', but he was years younger than her and his experience would show just that... It was an undercover mission if memory served. Wait...

"...Whats the success rate of his mission?" She asked, trying to keep her cool. Was it possible that he was choosing Allen simply because of his rank that he deemed him 'expandable'? No, no... No one could be that cruel. Her mind was wandering to the worse case sceniro. Of course Private Allen would be back, and they could get to know each other better.

"Thats classified." Shepherd replied, looking her over.

Taking a deep breath to calm herself, she nodded.

"Alright, sir." The two parted, and as she past by Allen, she put one hand on his shoulder. Looking at her feetat first, she looked him in the eyes suddenly. He had dark brown eyes that were filled with obvious youth and inexperience. Forcing herself to smile, she wished him good luck before wandering back over to Dunn and Foley. Turning around once she reached them, she saw Allen step into the helicopter.

"Lets go home, boys." Foley shrugged, headed towards an empty jeep. Dunn followed, and even further behind him followed Alexa, who was walking in a daze. As Foley took the driver's seat, Dunn slipped into the passenger seat and Alexa dragged herself into the back. She was just in the dumps about losing control of the life of a Private that she had wanted to protect. As she sighed loudly, Foley started the engine and they pulled off the shoulder of the dirt road, following the convoy ahead of them back to camp.

As they pulled into Firebase Phoneix, they handed off the Jeep's keys to a techician who wanted to look over the car.

* * *

"Mess hall after we change?" Dunn asked Alexa as Foley excused himself.

"Yeah, sure."

The two had headed towards the armory, which had an equal crowd from earlier with men putting back weaponry and other various types of equipment. As Alexa slipped out of her vest, making sure that the radio was off, she turned around and set the SCAR-H back on its mount on the wall. Leaving the room, she found that Dunn had once more beat her.

"Here." She said, taking out the desert eagle from her holster that he had given her earlier. She wasnt about to ask why he had his own personal pistol, when she was sure that it was against policy.

He slipped it into his own holster, and the he led her to the mess hall. Without his helment on, she noticed that he had his brown hair shaved off, leaving him with only the stubble. Typical army-cut.

Dunn led her to a large looking building which was filled with activity since all the soliders were returning back from recovering BCT-One. Some of them were still dressed completely in their battle gear. The pair grabbed a place in line, standing there without saying a word to each other.

"You alright?" Dunn eventally asked, looking concerned. Alexa looked up at him from her feet, almost having been surprised that he was there.

"Yeah... Im just a little shaken. Sorry, Dunn, dont mean to bring you down." She apologized.

"No, no, its fine."

They shuffled along through the line, not exchanging any more words. Alexa knew that she was being a buzz-kill, but she was just in a mood. By tomorrow she knew that she would be fine, but until then, she just wanted to think about things. Reflect upon things, which she wasnt so great at but tried her best at. She just couldnt bring herself to focus on events long enough to try and run them through her mind differently.

When it was finally their turn in line, they grabbed lunch trays and she let Dunn go first; she had no idea what the Rangers ate. As soon as she saw the tan and beige colored packages, she realized that she should've known better; they were out on the frontlines, of course they would be eatting MREs. There were full meal packages that included everything, along with indivdual entrees and sides that you could make your own meal with. Dunn picked up a larger package that had "MRE Star Brand Full Meal" stamped onto it alonged with a water bottle and moved towards the exit of the line, waiting for her. She looked over the individual entrees, scaning over the beef and looking more at the chicken. She picked up a package of chicken fajitas as she moved towards the side dishes. They had mashed ptotatos, apple sauce, mac-n-cheese, black beans, corn, hash browns with bacon, and fried rice. Deciding on a classic, she picked up the package of fried rice. Quickly grabbing a water bottle and blindedly snatching a juice packet, she started towards Dunn. Just as she was walking away, a package name caught her attention; 'Brownies'. She picked one up as she exitted the line towards Dunn. Just as you were exitting, they had paper plates and plastic ultenisles. Grabbing a plate and pre-packaged set of ultensils each, they moved towards a table in silence.

As they sat down at a two man table, Alexa opened her waterbottle and poured in the juice mix, which had turned out to be lemonade. Dunn had torn open his package and pulled out a orange juice mix, adding it to his drink. They both shook our drinks before returning to the rest of their meal. Alexa tore open her fajitas package and emptied the contents onto her plate, followed by her rice. Ripping the utenisles packet open, she began stuffing the food into her mouth, taking huge bites and washing them down with her lemonade right after.

The thing about her and lemonade, was that despite the fact that she enjoyed it, it was too sour for her, resulting in her to pucker her lips after every sip. She was aware of this, but didnt really care.

As Dunn started on his meal, which was supposedly pork and potatos with a side of powered mangos, he couldnt help but notice the funny face that Alexa was making after every sip of her drink. He didnt want to call it out because it was too funny. Finally, she looked up at him.

"What?" She asked, her mouth still chewing her food.

"N-nothing." He sputtered, still chuckling.

She gave him a weird look before going back to her meal. They didnt say anything else as they munched on their food. Alexa wasnt a fan of MREs. She doubted that anyone was, really. They'd come a long way since she had started eatting them seven years ago, but they were still no where near the stranard of real food. Washing them down with a drink was the only way that she could 'enjoy' eatting them. Dunn had somehow finished his meal before her, which was both puzzling and somewhat annoying. Back home, she was the fastest eatter that the 3rd Special Forces had.

"Attention men, we are having an early curfew tonight because tomorrow will be used as an intense training session. I repeat, early curfew. Please report to your cabin as soon as possible." A voice called over the intercom.

The men in the mess hall all groaned, so obviously the important part of that announcement was "intense". As she took the final bite of her rice, she told him that she was good to go. She put her brownie package into her pockets. He nodded and they dumped their packages and plates onto the garbage, and placed their trays onto the increasing tall pile of them. Dunn almost let out a chuckle about Alexa nearly not being able to reach the top of the pile. He hasnt sure what it was about her, but she was just so... positive and innocent. It was uplifting to be around her... A change from the usual environment.

As they left the mess hall and began walking to their cabin in the grey-ish sky, Dunn tried to start a conversation as Alexa opened up a brownie package.

"What specificly is bothering you? I mean, its not being left here by Shepherd is it?"

"Oh, no, not that... Im fine with helping out the Rangers. Its just... Being back in Afganistan is just reminding me of things that I dont want to think about... Plus, Im worried for the Private."

"Ah, hell, Im worried for the Private too. Honestly, I think him going with Shepherd was the worst possible thing."

"Well, thanks for confirming that."

Dunn almost smiled at that remark, because it meant that she was back. She was certainly in a better mood now, as she munched on her brownies. It wasnt as uplifting as before, but at least it was something.

"Look, if you ever need anyone to talk to, you've got me, alright? We're all a band of brothers here."

Alexa looked up from her brownies, her eyes glassy. She smirked after some time.

"Yeah, Dunn, I know."

When they reached the Beta Cabin, they said goodnight as they each proceeded to their bunks. Dunn's was near the end of the room on the right. Counting the bunks to three, she sat on the lower bed, and began untying her boots. Around her, other soliders were getting dressed for bed and chatting as they, but no one was overly happy. They had lost a few men out there today. Those men had families, just like everyone else. Their names would be lost, and only their death to racking up the body count would remain.

After she took her boots off, she sat on Allen's bed for a little while. The soliders around her were busy getting ready for bed themselves, so no one called her on it. Leaning her head back, she looked back at the calender that was tacked into the roof of the bed. Two weeks from today, he had the day circled multiple times. Perhaps that was when his tour was ending... Maybe it was his birthday... It could've been his aniversery... She would have to ask Allen what it was when he came back to Firebase. Eventally he would have to come back, even if it was just for his stuff.

Pushing herself off his bed, she climbed up the wooden ladder to her bunk. She sat there for a bit before taking off her socks, followed by wiggling out of her cargo pants. The Rangers appeared to be the same as the Special Forces in that aspect. Slipping under her blankets, she mumbled something about turning off the goddamn lights. Ten minutes later, they finally switched off.

Laying in her bed, she stared at the ceiling for some time. She was certainly tired, but something inside her was telling her to stay awake. She was almost scared to fall asleep, because she knew that what would consume her mind wouldnt be anything pretty...

* * *

"...So how do I look?"

"Like one of the bad guys... Perfect for your undercover assignment."

As Allen stared into the mirrior at his new tattoos that almost completely covered his chest, he felt like he was outside of his body watching someone else. It was a rush to be experincing this. In less than an hour, he was going to board a plane to Moscow, Russia. Looking over his tattoos one last time, the words of Sergeant Alexa Young echoed in his head.

"_Good luck, Private."_


	5. Nightmares

A loud ringing noise was what woke everyone in the Beta cabin... Everyone except Alexa. She hadn't slept more than an hour or two all night. When she woke up from her nightmare hours ago, she knew that there was no way in hell that she was falling back to sleep. She woke up in a cold sweat, and didn't want to be in the dark. She sat up and switched her watch light on to maximum brightness and shone the light around the room. She was in the Beta cabin. There were Rangers sleeping in their respective bunks. She familiarized herself with the area and eventually dropped back down onto her bunk, turning her watch light off. That dream was too vivid... too real. She knew that it was just re-living a memory of a solider who was gone so young, but every time she had the dream, it tore at her.

* * *

"_Specialist__ Young!"_

_Alexa whipped around to see her C.O., Sergeant First Class Calvin Wilder, standing at the door of her 'dorm' room, breathing heavily. She set down her book and turned herself to face him._

"_What is it, Sergeant?" She asked, looking down at her book's cover. It was Saturday, and she spent Saturday's reading whichever books that her parents had sent her for that month. Whenever she could, she emailed them and asked for a specific title, but usually she just asked for whatever has on the "Teens Bestsellers" table. The others in her dorm traded books with her sometimes, but she had already read all of their titles._

"_We need your help on a hostage rescue mission! We're leaving now!" He yelled, much louder than necessary. _

"_W-what? I've never done hostage rescue!" She shrieked, scared by the idea. She did special reconnaissance; that was her talent. She didn't know the first thing about hostage rescue._

"_Dammit, Young, there's no time to argue! They've got one of the privates!"_

_Her resistance dropped as her face looked shocked. The privates had just arrived three days ago to start their first tour in Afghanistan. They hadn't yet adjust to the life at the base, and Alexa had spent the last couple of days instructing them on the lifestyle of the base and going over protocols with them in call of emergency. She jumped off of her bed and sprinted with Wilder down the halls of the building._

* * *

"_Young, on me." Wilder whispered, motioning for her to follow him. She took a few cautious steps towards him. "Be ready to shoot when we open this door, alright?"_

_She nodded fiercely, her grip on her M4A1 Carbine tightening. Her palms were sweaty under neath her grip gloves._

_Wilder set up the __AGP-DB14 Door Breaching Charge, which she had been told had a 5-6 second fuse._

_'1...2...3...4...5...6'_

_The door exploded and she got ready to shot, but didn't see anyone. As the smoke cleared, she saw something on the ground._

_It was a hand that had a cuff around it, attached to a metal pipe that was mounted to the ground.._

"_Serg-" She gasped, pointing at the hand and the trail of blood following it backwards._

"_Oh god." She heard someone in the squad mumble._

"_This means that he might be alive somewhere. We have to keep moving!" Wilder suddenly commanded, pointing forward. The room was obviously much, much larger than it seemed, however, the rest of the room was covered in darkness from the absence of lights._

"_Night vision goggles and red lasers, men. Lets move." He said as he slid his own pair from his helmet onto his face._

_Alexa slid hers on, and looked around. There wasn't any obvious trace of anyone else being there. Flicking a switch on her gun, her red laser appeared with the others as they began moving forward. _

"_...Somethings off." Alexa whispered into her radio headset as she looked down at the trail of blood. It suddenly stopped, and started again, except with large spaces between the pools that were larger in diameter. He had started running because of something._

_They reached a door, and just as Wilder approached the door with a new set of charges, he noticed that it was open. Putting the charge back, he motioned to the group to exercise caution. Counting to three into his radio, they all entered the room, which turned out to be a stair well._

"_Oh my god." Alexa squeaked. The soldiers all looked towards her, and were followed by swears. The privates body who they had came in for was dismembered and completely slaughtered. _

"_We need to leave." Someone else said. _

_Alexa knelled down next to the body, trying not to look at it. This had just happened; the stairwell didn't smell of anything rotting. Looking away, she started feeling around his neck for his dog tags. Before she found them, her hand was covered in blood and she had felt things that shouldn't even be felt. Tugging on them rather hard, they didn't come off. Nearly hyperventilating, she set down her M4A1 Carbine and quickly worked to unclasp the tags. As soon as she got them, she shoved them into her pocket and picked up her weapon._

_Suddenly, something fell from the stairs above. It hit the ground before anyone could do anything, and exploded. It was a flash bang that caused the group to flatter and drop their weapons. Alexa stumbled and fell into the corpse of the solider that they had come for. Pushing against it to free herself from it, she fell backwards, breathing heavily and constantly. Her ears were ringing, but even so, she heard something else drop and explode. Judging from the white smoke around her, she guessed it to be a smoke grenade. Flipping up her night vision goggles, she was in the dark. They weren't helping because they had blood on the lens, and the smoke just made everything white. Feeling around for her weapon, she found it and quickly picked it up, wobbling against the nearest wall and crouching against it, laying wait._

"_Wilder? Ayres? Williams?" She breathed into her headset._

"_I'm here." A voice responded. It was raspy and dry... and familiar. It was Wilder._

"_Me too." Another responded, and judging from the southern accent, it was Williams._

_Ayres didn't respond._

_Suddenly there was movement from the stairs. An army of footsteps were cascading down onto them._

"_We have to move...!" Williams hissed. "Back out the way we came!"_

"_What about Ayres?" Alexa whispered._

"_Wait, wait...I've got him." Wilder replied. "He's out."_

"_I'll carry him." Alexa muttered. "Where is he?"_

"_Hurry the fuck up and get him!" Williams growled, growing anxious as the footsteps became louder._

_Alexa began feeling around and hoped to God that she wouldn't touch the corpse again. Finally, she reached out and felt something like fabric. It was Ayres's shirt._

"_Okay, I got him!"_

"_Then lets get the fuck out!"_

_She positioned herself so that she grabbed his arm and hung it behind her neck, and grabbed his hip. Lift with your legs, Alexa. She forced herself upwards and, with Ayres in haul, followed her team mates out the door._

"_Wake up, man...!" She hissed into his ear as loud as she would dare._

"_Where the hell is the exit?" Williams cursed again._

"_I see it, put your night vision back on and follow me!" She slid down her goggles, rubbing at the lens to rid of the blood. She saw Wilder and Williams running towards a familiar door. In her hobbling, she stepped on something that cracked under her weight. Her stomach tightened as she kept going. She didn't even need to look down to know what she had just stepped on._

"_...Hmmmm?" Ayres mumbled._

"_Oh, thank god. Wake up man." Alexa said, shaking him._

_He suddenly broke away from her, and looked around. His night vision goggles were still on, and he saw the squad running and followed. As the crew exited through the door they had breached, they looked around the dark outside. There were guards running around, apparently aware of their presence from the dead guards bodies. Alexa swore, instantly realizing what had happened. They saw the bodies which confirmed their presence, and than executed the Private who was trying to escape at the same time. _

"_Overlord this is Rescue 1-1, do you read, over?" Wilder had switched to his chest radio._

"_Rescue 1-1 this is Overlord, we read you."_

"_We need an emergency e-vac, ASAP, over."_

"_Affirmative. An emergency e-vac is headed to for you. The LZ is 300 meters North."_

"_Overlord, I don't think we can make that. The enemy is in hot pursuit."_

"_Secondary LZ is 100 meters East on a cliff side, but you'll have to jump onto the copter."_

"_We can do that."_

"_Dispatching helicopter now. Overlord out."_

"_Alright men, play it quiet, use the darkness. If there's any sign of them getting suspicious, go loud." Wilder instructed, pointing to behind a truck. "On me."_

_They all sprinted and dove behind the truck. Ayres, who was now completely awake and aware of the situation pulled out his pistol and switched off the safety. He had dropped his own Carbine when the flash bang had gone off. Wilder kept pointing out various objects to hide behind until they were 20m from the LZ that Overlord had proposed. They hadn't been sighted yet. Now they just had to wait for the helicopter to arrive and they could go home._

"_There is it." Ayres breathed, staring at the helicopter through his goggles. _

_Then the men from that they had heard earlier charging down the stairs were scattering the area, looking for them. Alexa heart was beating at least 150 times a minute. They were so close... By the time the enemy would hear or see the helicopter, they would be on it. Williams was watching the men as they looked around._

"_C'mon..." Wilder whispered, watching the helicopter. You could hear it now._

"_They're onto us!" Williams cried, pulling a frag grenade from his belt and throwing it._

"_Go! Go!" Wilder cried, pushing off the ground and running towards the cliff. The helicopter was nearly there, and the door slid open. There was a man franticly waving at them. The bullets started as soon as Williams's grenade exploded. Alexa was right behind Wilder when he jumped. He had made the jump, but she realized in mid air that she was short. She managed to hang onto the railing, and Wilder and the other man inside pulled her in. Just as she had gotten in, Ayres landed on the ground of the helicopter with a thud._

"_Williams!" Wilder yelled._

_Suddenly the pilot started to leave the LZ._

"_The hell are you doing?" Alexa shrieked, looking over at him._

"_This LZ is too hot; if we stay any longer the helicopter will explode." He yelled back._

_A deafening scream echoed from all of their headsets. Alexa turned her head back to the cliff and saw Williams fall to the ground before the group surrounded him._

_She fell backwards onto the bench-like seats, and threw off her helmet, using her hands to cover her tears. She didn't want anyone to see her crying. It was useless though, because her sobbing was the only noise in the helicopter as they headed back to camp._

* * *

Alexa rubbed at her eyes. There wasn't any time to be crying now. She had training today. Sitting up and shuffling through her storage, she grabbed her black shorts and slipped them on beneath her blanket. She hadn't realized last night, but someone had put a blanket on her bunk. Searching for a shirt, she grabbed the first one she found, which was a yellow shirt with white trim. Putting it on over the tank she'd been wearing and had slept in last night, she reached for her her converse and tied them. Unlike her boots, these were new and snow white. Probably not for long though. Grabbing her "make-up" bag, she turned to the side of her bed without the ladder and jumped down. She wanted to use the bathroom before it became crowed.

As she stood outside the cabin, her eyes scanned the area. Where the hell was the bathroom? Turning around, she asked the first person who came through the doors. He pointed to the right, and she noticed a wide, rectangular building. She thanked him and began walking over to it.

As soon as she opened the door, she couldn't help but raise her eyebrows. At the end of the building, there were 'open' showers, that had a tiled wall about 4-5 feet tall for some attempt at privacy, along with little stalls. Stress 'attempt', considering that she could see soldiers showering. The the left and right when you entered were bathroom stalls. On the left further back there was a a board with a little gate-like exit, which she assumed was for the soldiers to change before coming out. Opposite to it on the right were sink stations. She walked towards those. Setting her bag on the sink ledge, she grabbed her toothbrush and tooth paste, and started brushing her teeth. Following it, she rinsed with mouthwash. After applying a coat of lip smackers to her cracking lips and throwing on some deodorant, she was good to go. When they finished working out, she would certainly be back for a shower. As she left the building, it started to get busy. The next mission was breakfast after she dropped off her make-up bag on top of her bunk.

When she arrived at the mess hall, the line wasn't too long. After collecting a lunch tray, a breakfast MRE that claimed to be sausage and eggs, a small carton of milk, utensils and a plate, she sat down by herself. As she opened the package and dumped the contents onto her plate, she saw a tray plant down at the other side of her table. She thought it was Dunn, but after looking up, she disregarded that. It was a man who appeared to be around her age with striking blue eyes and blonde hair that was gelled into a fohawk. He was wearing a tan muscle shirt and white shorts.

"Hey there." He smiled as he took a seat.

"Uh, hey," Alexa replied, taking a drink of her milk, preparing for the MRE. "Can I help you?"

"Is that how you make friends?" He looked hurt for a moment before smiling again. "I'm James Ramirez."

"Alexa Young." She replied as she took a bite of whatever was on her plate, followed up by the usual drink to wash it down.

She looked up and saw that he was staring at her. "What?" She asked, puzzled.

"Nothing. Just haven't seen you around before."

"I got transferred here yesterday. How long have you been here?"

"4 months." He replied, pouring out his meal onto his plate as well. The two ate in silence for a little while before Alexa finished her meal.

"So, uh, what type of training do you guys do here?"

"20 minute jog, 100 squats, 50 jumping jacks, 50 push-ups, 100 sit-ups... and then we spend the rest of the day in the gym lifting weights and such. Thats how these fine guns are crafted." He flexed one of his biceps and Alexa laughed. As he finished his meal, the announcement came on.

"Attention soldiers. Training starts in 5 minutes in the east field. Repeat, 5 minutes. Anyone late will be punished."

"I'd like to recommend not being late. You have to do twice as much exercise." James told her as he stood up, his tray in haul. "Come on, let's get training over with."

Getting her tray, she followed him. Never hurt to make more friends since she wasn't sure how long she was going to be here.

* * *

"Good lord!" Alexa cried as she entered her cabin, her muscles burning. James had been lying when he had told her what the work-out would entail. Take that and multiple it by 7 and perhaps that would make it true. Forcing her sore muscles to climb up to her bunk, she grabbed her backpack and threw a shirt and her make-up bag into it before climbing back down.

She wanted a hot shower. Something to calm her muscles. As she entered the bathroom/shower house, she heard a single shower going, but that was the only activity. Proceeded to where she had deemed the "changing area" earlier, she stripped quickly and threw her clothes into her pack, which she exchanged out for her makeup bag and a towel. She wrapped herself in the towel and picked out one of the shower "stalls", which was really just a frosted glass walls and a short "door" that barely covered your ass, she set it down underneath the shower head so that it wouldn't get too wet. She took off her towel and hung it off the hook that was on the outside of the stall. As a final step, she took her hair out of its ponytail, letting it run down her back. However, it didn't feel that great, most likely because she hadn't showered in nearly two days. As she turned on the water, she relaxed.

As she lathered shampoo in her hair, she realized that she hadn't seen Dunn all day; didn't see him here this morning, at the mess hall at breakfast or at the lunch break, at the gym... She wondered where he'd been. Leaning her head back, she let the hot water rinse the shampoo from her hair. Maybe she'd see him at the cabin later tonight. James had invited her to meet the guys from the Alpha cabin, and in the process watch a movie with them.

Wringing her hair out with her hands, she reached for her conditioner and applied it to her hair, making sure to apply more to the ends of her hair because they were the driest. She shivered as she stood just outside the shower's range. Suddenly the sound of water falling from another shower stopped. Alexa made sure that she was covered by the "door" and didn't move until she heard the man walk by and go to get changed. Once he was gone, she stepped back into the shower, washing the conditioner out of her hair.

She took a razor out of her pack, and peered back, to the rest of the bathroom. It seemed to be empty. She quickly shaved her arm pits before putting the razor back into her pack. As the final step of her shower, she took out her body wash and loofah. As she washed her body, she was finally satisfied. She turned off the shower and quickly reached over the door and grabbed her towel, wrapping it around herself. Walking over to her backpack, she quickly re-dressed herself before anyone came in. She left the bathhouse, as she decided she was going to call it from now on, she was dressed in her white sweats, black flip-flops, and a thin purple hoodie. Her hair was soaking wet, and a little wavy. She knew that eventually someone was going to call her out on her hair; seeing as she had been wandering around with a ponytail when that was against the rules. Than again, she was the only female on this base, apparently, so they might have not been aware of that policy. As she entered her cabin, there were about 5 men present, all playing on what appeared to be a Game cube. Man, that was pretty vintage.

After throwing her pack on her bag, and watching the guys play some Mario game for a few minutes, she headed over to the Alpha cabin to watch the movie with James and his buddies.

* * *

A/N : That's how I imagine Ramirez, even though his last name makes it very unlikely, I'm sticking to it : ) Sorry this chapter was so jumpy. Please R&R.

PS all good stories deserve a shower scene ;)

Considering making it M so that I can go more into detail with events like Alexa's nightmare. Plus, I'm not sure if I can drop F-bombs with a T rating.


	6. No Russian

In the middle of his shower, Dunn was surprised to hear someone else start one. When he had finished, and was passing by the shower, he had to do a double take. Long brown hair covered the back of the person in the shower. He shook his head on the way out, chuckling. Having Alexa here was a lot more interesting that he would've thought. She just kept popping up everywhere he was by some bizarre fate. As he was leaving, he thought about leaving a bandanna or sock or something on the handle so that no one bothered her during her shower, but shrugged it off. Obviously she really didn't care if anyone else was there, considering that she just barged right in there and started her shower while he was having his.

On his way back to the Beta cabin, he ran into Private Remaiez, who was just leaving.

"Hey, Corporal... Have you seen the Sergeant?" He asked, as he was walking away from the cabin.

"Foley? He's at his office." Dunn replied, a little confused.

"No, no, Sergeant Young."

At that remark, he smirked, almost considering telling him that she was in the shower to just see his response would be. He decided against it though; he should let her have something of a peaceful shower.

"Nope," He answered as he moved into the doorway that Ramirez had been standing in seconds ago. "But, a word to the wise... Don't let Foley hear you call Young "The Sergeant", alight?"

Ramirez flashed his signature grin before walking off, back to his own cabin he assumed. Dunn stepped into his cabin, where he found a few of the inhibitions getting rather worked up over a Mario game. It was always fun when the soldiers received gifts from back home to play with. There was something funny about grown men playing Mario on the Game Cube. He thought about sitting down and joining the game, but he knew that he and Foley had some work to take care of. Being second in command, he had to help Foley with listing soldiers as KIA from yesterday's events, along with sending out a letter and their dog tags back home.

* * *

As Alexa reached the Alpha cabin, she walked right in. Ramirez turned around and smiled, getting off his seat on the ground to greet her.

"Have a good shower?" He asked, nodded towards her wet hair.

"Yeah... The showers are really warm. Helped my muscles." She replied. "So, these are the guys?"

"Yeah, here, come meet them." He grinned again and guided her towards them. "This is Keating, Macey, and McCord."

All three of them turned around, and smiled at her. She'd recongized Keating and Macey, as they were the ones playing basketball when she had first arrived.

"Hey guys. So, what movie are we watching?" She smiled back at them, as she took a seat on the ground in front of the laptop.

McCord picked up the DVD case and handed it to her, grinning. "The Hangover."

She started giggling, remembered that she'd seen it back in boot camp. It was a hilarious movie. "Awesome, going old school."

"Its not 'old school', its a classic." Remirez smiled.

Man, there was a lot of smiles going around. Who would've thought that they were in the middle of a war, sitting there exchanging laughs as they started watching the movie. The only thing that she would've wanted to make it better would've been having Allen back at Firebase, enjoying it with them.

* * *

As Allen watched the doors of the elevator open to reveal the Zakhaev International Airport with Makarov and his other group members, he was nervous. Alexei Borodin, however, was calm and collect as could be.

"Remember – no Russian." Makarov said, his voice emotionless. He nodded towards the open doors and the group started walking. There was Viktor, Lev, himself, and Makarov.

They stood before a large group of Russians, who were standing neatly in lines. There were several security officers standing at the head of each of the lines. Viktor cleared his throat, and everyone was suddenly aware of them. He was standing next Makarov had fired the first shot, and the group all joined in the firing afterwards. Everyone is the airport has going to die, and he was going to have his part in it. As a security officer went for his pistol, Allen shot at him, and watched them hit the ground along with everyone else. The words of Shepherd rang through his head.

"_Two men took down down an entire base. I ask much more for you now. Yesterday you were a solider on the front lines... But the front lines are now history. Uniforms are relics. The war rages everywhere. And there will be casualties. This man is Makarov is fighting his own war and he has no rules; no boundaries. He doesn't flinch at torture, human trafficking, or genocide. Hes not loyal to a flag or country or any set of ideals. He trades blood for money. ...And he's your new best friend. You dont want to know what its cost already to put you next to him... However, it will cost nothing compared to everything you'll save."_

After all of this bloodshed, everything would be justified. He would return to Firebase Phoenix as a hero. He could get promoted; perhaps he could even run his own squad. He would shake hands with Foley and Dunn, and Young if she was still there.

The group of people who had survived the first set of shoots started running and screamed. As they started towards the next group of people, Allen quickly reloaded his gun. Stepping over the bodies that were littered, they past through the metal detectors, which quickly beeping quickly and loudly. Another huge crowd ran by, this time trying to reach the stairs. Their group gunned them all down, and suddenly Makarov turned his gun, shooting into a frosted glass window and door. Screams were heard from the room and a security guard who had tried to run out was shot multiple times. As they moved into the huge lobby-like area, a few people threw their hands up to surrender, which no one in the group bothered acknowledging; they just shot them at close range since they had stayed still.

"Up the stairs. Go." Makarov took off in something of a jog, and the men followed him. As soon as they reached the top, there were more people running around, screaming. The group shot them down merically. As soon as they saw someone, they shot. They continued as they proceeded through the upper level. Allen did his best not to think about what he was doing. Lev threw a grenade, and it shattered the glass elevators and broke the support lines, sending it crashing into the ground below. From a wide window, we all saw a black helicopter fly by.

"Lets go!" Makarov yelled, running down the staircase. When they reached the bottom, Allen saw a man crawling, leaving a heavy blood trail behind him. Allen aimed down his sights at him, but decided against shooting him. Suddenly bullets pierced the man, and Allen caught the glaring eyes of Viktor. As they past by a flight screen, all of them were listed as delayed.

They jogged into a room that was connected to an open loading dock door. Makarov looked out briefly before resting back up against the wall.

"They're here... Right on time. Check your weapons and ammo."

"Ive waited a long time for this." Viktor nearly smiled as he crouched, looking out onto the runways.

"Haven't we all." Makarov replied, leading the group out of the building. They climbed down a set a stairs and Makarov kicked open a metal door. "This way, let's go."

As they looked down a dim hallway, Makarov commanded them to go. Sparks were flying down from the lights. Finally as they exited down a slanted ramp, Allen took a grenade.

"For Zakheav." Makarov said as Allen threw the greande underneath a plane. As it exploded, the men with riotshields stumbled, but quickly recovered.

"F.S.B.; take 'em out."

The group switched their guns to grenadier mode, which quickly took them out. He followed Lev, who was taking cover behind the plane wheels. Turning to his right, he saw Makarov, and run over to help him. He was crouching behind a luggage chart, but stood as soon as Allen reached him. They began firing onto another squad of riot shields. As they watched their other group members run to closer cover, they also moved up. Taking out continuous and seemingly never ending waves of riot shields was taking its toll on Allen. He wondered how much more of this they would have to endure.

As he slid behind a black police van, he threw a flash bang. Peering out around it, he shot at the men who were stumbling. He show the other group members moving up, and he followed them, sprinting frantically.

"30 seconds; lets go. This way!" He make a sharp turn into another loading dock station, and slowly opened the door. It was clear. They proceeded into a hallway which Makarov had labelled as 'clear'. As they approached a white ambulance, Makarov stopped. He held up his fist.

"Hold your fire."

The doors flew open, and another Russian with a heavy accent spoke. "Good, you made it! Get in!"

As the group approached and entered the van, the man spoke again. "We've sent a strong message with his attack, Makarov."

There it was; their escape van. They had made it. Makarov took a step into the van and turned around, extending his hand towards Allen. "That was no message..." Allen took it and suddenly felt a burning pain in his stomach, falling backwards. His eyes met with Makarov's as he glared down at him. "This is a message." They slammed shut the doors and took off.

"The American thought he could decieve us... When they find that body, all of Russia will cry for war." He heard from his earpiece.

Allen lay there, trying to realize what had just happened. His stomach was on fire, and he felt blood pouring onto the pavement. They had known about him? How? ...Russia? War? Oh god. He started sobbing as he pieced everything together. He suddenly saw three men in black approaching him, and he started sobbing even harder. This is it. He was dying. As the men noticed him, one ran towards him, and tried for a pulse. He stood back up immediately, just staring down at him. His vision started blacking out and his eyes kept closing on him, until he finally couldn't open them any more.

* * *

"The Russians arent gonna let this massacre go unanswered. Its gonna get bloody." Ghost mumbled as he took a drag on his cigarette. His skull balaclava was rolled up to his nose just so that he could smoke.

"Too right, mate. Now in the eyes of the world, they're the victims." Mactavish replied, leaning back in his chair. "No one's gonna say a word when the Russians club every American they can reach."

"Makarov was one move ahead. Now he's left thousands of bodies at the feet of an American." Shepherds voice came over the radio that was in the middle of the table.

"We're the only ones who know it was Makarov's op. Our credibility died with Allen. We need proof." Mactavish sighed.

"Follow the shell. Get back to me when you can."

"Sir, where are you?" Ghost asked as he finished his cigarette and rolled down his balaclava.

"Im going back to Firebase Phoneix in Afganistan to inform his C.O., and to collect a solider to aid you guys." Shepherd replied. "Shepherd out."

"I suggest we get some sleep while we can, mate... Because when we get the information, its gonna be non-stop action." Mactavish said, walking over to his friend and patting his shoulder. The man nodded, but stayed put as Mactavish left the room. He didn't feel like sleeping.

* * *

"Ahahahahahahah!" Alexa was leaning on Remirez, unable to control her laughter. They were watching the end photos that went with the credits.

"Man, I needed that." Macey had calmed his laughing, but still let out a few chuckles.

Leaning back, supporting herself with her hands, she smiled. "Same here."

The doors of the cabin started opening and she turned around, noting all the men piling in. She looked at her clock, noting that it was 10 o'clock.

"Aw, man, curfew." Keating mumbled, taking the DVD out of his laptop, and putting it back in its case.

"I guess I should get going then," Alexa sighed, getting up. "We should do this again sometime."

Everyone nodded in agreement as they said goodnight to her. As she managed to squeeze through the door while a large group of men were entering, she started to walk back to her cabin. She was talking about select parts of the movie, chuckling lightly. She suddenly heard the familiar noise of an airplane landing. Checking her watch, she wondered who would be arriving so late. Curiosity got the better of her. She started jogging towards the mess hall, which was fairly close to the airplane landing area. She'd grab a bottle of water and than see who had arrived.

Just as she arrived, she noticed a Private locking up.

"Hey, uh, could I just grab a water bottle quickly?" She smiled hopefully.

The private looked around, trying to see if anyone was watching. "Make it quick." He mumbled as he opened the door for her.

She thanked him and flipped on her watch-light, using it to navigate her way to the water bottles. Grabbing one, she turned off her light and exited, thanking the Private once more. She looked over the landing area, trying to see. It was getting rather dark out, so she couldn't see any faces, but she was sure that she recognized that place, she just wasn't sure where. Mumbling to herself, she headed back to her cabin, disappointed that she didn't get the chance to see who it was.

As she entered her cabin, she noticed that the lights were already off. She quickly slid off her flip flops in front of the ladder up to her bunk, and climbed up, finding her backpack where she'd left it in the middle of her bed. She placed it into her storage bin at the foot of her bed and got comfy. She was sure that she wouldn't have a nightmare tonight, after the time she'd had with the boys.

* * *

Dunn walked back to the cabin in pure darkness, filled with anger. No matter how many breathing exercises he had done on his walk, he was too mad to calm down. This whole situation was bullshit. Creeping into the cabin, he went to Allen's bunk, and took a step onto the ladder, poking the lump of human that he knew was Alexa. She groaned before turning over and swearing.

"Its Dunn." He whispered.

"Fuck, Dunn, you scared me." She mumbled, rubbing her eye. "What do you want?"

"...Grab your backpack. You're leaving."

"Huh?" She sat up, and he felt her eyes digging into him. "What the hell are you talking about, Corporal?"

"...Its Shepherd. He came back to get you... You're leaving with him. Just come, alright?" He begged her, knowing that if they continued this conversation, he'd snap. He had managed to some-what calm himself as he'd entered the cabin, but it was temporarily. He heard her sigh and start throwing things into her backpack. He stepped off of the ladder and let her climb down, throwing all of her shoes minus her converse into her pack. She slipped her bare foot into them, not bothering to put on a pair of socks.

They snuck out the cabin door, but they didnt get further than a few steps before Alexa stopped and crossed her arms. Dunn turned around when he didnt hear her footsteps.

"Come on, Young, we don't have time for this." He mumbled, turning back to her.

"I want to know everything that you know before I go."

"I don't know anything...!" He hissed. "I don't know anything except..."

"What? Except what?" She hounded.

"...Private Allen is..."

"What about Allen?" She asked, knowing what his next words would be, but she didn't want to believe it. There was no way that...

"He's dead, Alexa!" He yelled, taking a step towards her and shaking her.

"How is that possible? He was just sent out two days ago!" Alexa cried, feeling like she had just taken a huge blow to the stomach. Apparently she wasn't going to be able to ask Allen what the date on his calender meant, or learn anything personal about him. Joseph Allen was gone.

She thought back to Williams's face when he was left behind. He looked scared and helpless. She wondered what the last thing going through Allens mind was. Was he proud to die for America? Was he sad that his life was over before it had began?

A tear ran down her cheek, and she rubbed at her eye. No, no, no... No tears. She had cried in front of her group once, and she didn't want her second time to be in front of someone who was basically a stranger.

"...When was Allen's tour going to be over?" She asked, her voice cracking as she tried to regain her composure.

"A week and a half from today." He whispered.

That was the one thing that she didnt want to hear. He was almost home before Shepherd had taken him away from her protection.

"...Fuuuuck!" She hissed, running a hand angrily through her hair.

"...C'mon, Shepherd wants to talk to you." Dunn finally said, and started walking. Alexa has following, and he knew that she had the same feeling in her stomach as he did. He knew that Allen leaving with Shepherd wouldn't end well, and he turned out to be right. And now he had returned to take Young... Did that mean she was going to die for him as well?

They finally reached a small building that Dunn opened the door for her to open. Foley was seated at his desk, and Shepherd was seated at the chair on the other side of his desk, his beret resting in his lap.

"I'm guessing that you've heard the news." Shepherd began, looking at her. Alexa nodded, looking at the ground. She couldn't bring herself to look at him. If she did, she risked doing something stupid.

"Joseph Allen's death was not in vain. Because of his ultimate sacrifice, we are one step closer to Makarov. I came here today to ask for your help. The task force needs one more elite member to take down Makarov. What do you say?"

"...Just say the word and Ill go. You're the ring master, aren't you?"

Ever since Shepherd had entered her life a few days ago, he had time and time again manage to take her out of control and put her in a new environment. From the familiar 3rd Special Forces, 2nd Battalion, to the Rangers, and now to TF141.

"Yes, well, that settles it. Thank you for thanking care of her, Foley." He stood up and reached over the desk to shake his hand.

"It was my pleasure, Shepherd." Foley replied, also standing and grabbing his hand.

"I guess... I'll see you later." Alexa mumbled to Dunn as she followed Shepherd out the door. He lead her to the place, which, as she walked up the stairs, had a bizarre feeling of deja vu wash over her. She took a seat in the normal seats, far awar from Shepherd and the comfy chairs.

Alexa sighed as she sat, deflating her emotions. Another private had died in war... When did it end? What did it take to stop the slaughter of kids barely out of school? One thing was for sure; she certainly wasn't going to let Allen's death go to waste. Whoever this 'Makerov' character was, she was going to take care of him.

* * *

A/N : I had intended for this chapter to be longer, but I just decided to finish it off. The next chapter will most likely be 4-5k words though. Please R&R, I love to know what you think of the story, positive or negative.


	7. Echo

Alexa had spent the trip listening to her iPod. She didn't want sleep... She was far too restless for anything like that. She was extremely agitated she kept re-shuffling her iPod's play list. As a certain song started, she let it play out for some unknown reason.

_Throw dirt on me and grow a wildflower  
But it's "fuck the world", get a child out her  
Yeah, my life a bitch, but you know nothing bout her  
Been to hell and back, I can show you vouchers  
I'm rolling Sweets, I'm smoking sour  
Married to the game but she broke her vows  
That's why my bars are full of broken bottles  
And my night stands are full of open Bibles  
I think about more than I forget  
But I don't go around fire expecting not to sweat  
And these n-ggas know I lay them down, make their bed  
Bitches try to kick me while I'm down, I'll break your leg  
Money outweighing problems on the triple beam  
I'm sticking to the script, you n-ggas skipping scenes  
Be good or be good at it  
Fucking right I've got my gun, semi-Cartermatic  
Yeah, put a dick in their mouth, so I guess it's "fuck what they say"  
I'm high as a bitch: up, up and away  
Man, I come down in a couple of days  
OK, you want me up in the cage, then I'll come out in beast mode  
I got this world stuck in the safe, combination is the G-code  
It's Weezy motherf-cker, blood gang and I'm in bleed mode  
All about my dough but I don't even check the peephole  
So you can keep knocking but won't knock me down  
No love lost, no love found_

No Love by Eminem and Lil Wayne. She was a huge fan of Eminem... His older stuff anyways; recently his rapping had just lost its edge. The intensity that made parents shield their children from him had disappeared. Lil' Wayne's raps just got more crude though, in contrast. She yawned suddenly, and leaned forward, pushing her shoulder blades together until they cracked. This flight was taking forever. She assumed they were handed back to the US, which was like a 12 hour flight, but it felt extendedly long. Peering out the window, she noticed that they were almost out of the cloud cover.

She had spent the past 2 and a half days amongst the Rangers at Firebase Phoenix. Around 55 hours. In that amount of time, she had fought and bled with them, and made strong bonds with some of the men. She had also become aware of the death of Private Allen, a young man who was a week and a half from getting out alive. That part killed her. Shepherd had taken him on the undercover mission, and he had died because of it. Suddenly, she thought that he heard something, and hooked out one of her headphones.

"Sergeant, are you awake?" Shepherd asked.

Alexa paused her music, and put her iPod and headphones into her backpack. She got up, leaving it there, and walked back to the comfy seats that she had been sitting on when she had first met him. He motioned for her to sit down, which she did.

"What is it, General?"

"When we land, you're going to meet the members of TF141, and likely be shipping out tonight for your first mission. Are you prepared to do so, mentally?"

She nodded. 12 hours had given her time to think... It had even given her time to properly reflect. She had calmed down, and had come to terms with Allen's death. He was gone, but certainly not forgotten. She would remember him, just as she remembered Williams... She just hoped that Allen wouldn't haunt her dreams like Williams did.

"Good. Another point, at TF141, everyone has a 'nickname'. A simple, short word to identify you over radio communications to protect your identity. Do you have something in mind?"

A simple, short word to identify herself? What could she possibly use?

"I'll have something for when we land." She assured him.

"Good."

Sensing that he had nothing more to say to her, she went back to her original seat, falling into it. A word to identify herself. It didn't have to relate to herself, but she couldn't help wanting it to just that. Unable to decide on a name, she turned back to her iPod and shuffled, looking at the song titles for inspiration.

Echo... She liked that. No, no, no, hell no... Switch? Maybe. Trick? Perhaps. Toxic? Not even. Maybe using song titles hasn't going to work. She'd like 'Control', except that might make radio conversations confusing. Turning back down to her iPod, the song playing was "The Pretender" by the Foo Fighters. That was tempting for some unknown reason. Unable to decide, she decided to stick with 'Echo'. Sergeant Alexa "Echo" Young. Sounded fine to her.

As the plane landed, Alexa followed Shepherd down the stairs and into a dark limo with completely tinted windows. As soon as the driver started, well, driving, Shepherd looked over at Alexa.

"Decide on a name?"

"Uh, yeah. Echo." She replied, the name feeling weird on her tongue this time around. Suddenly she wished that she had come up with a better name, but it was too late now.

Shepherd nodded.

They sat there in silence for the duration of the car ride, which was only around 10 minutes. When they arrived, the driver opened the door for them, saluting. Shepherd led the way out of the dim-lighted garage, continuing down a long hallway and stopped at the door at the end of the hall. Upon opening it, the several men inside looked up at them.

"Gentlemen, this is Sergeant Alexa "Echo" Young. She is Allen's replacement."

Alexa's eyes wandered around the room. There was a man with stubble on his face and his head, except down the middle where the hair was slightly longer. Another man was wearing a balaclava with a skull on it. The she couldn't really see the others too well, because the room's lights were rather dim. Man, what was it with this place and the dim lights?

"This is your commanding officer, Captain John Mactavish." Shepherd motioned towards the man with the stubble and something of a lay-flat mohawk. Alexa nodded at him.

"Sir, we got the information on the bullet. It came back as a match for Alejandro Rojas... I've never heard of him." MacTavish informed him, handing him some documents. Alexa almost smiled at his heavy, brutish Scottish accent.

"You know him as 'Alex the Red'. He supplied the assault." Shepherd replied, looking over the papers.

"One bullet to unleash the fury of an entire nation. Which means..."

"He's our ticket to Makarov." Everyone in the room, including Alexa, looked over at him; that had certainly caught their attention.

"I've arranged for a plane to take us to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. We have reports that Roja has been living somewheres around here."

"When does it depart?"

"In 1 hour, sir."

"Good. In the meantime, show Alexa to her bunk." Shepherd motioned to Alexa before leaving the room. She stood there awkwardly, not sure whether she should say anything.

"Ghost, Roach... Show Echo to her room." Mactavish turned around and said to the man wearing the mask. He stepped toward her, along with a man whose details she still couldn't make out from the dark room.

"Follow me." The one with the balaclava said, leaving the room and heading back into the hallway. He had a British accent, however it was no where near as heavy as MacTavish's Scottish one. He opened one of the doors on the left, and she followed him through it. The other man's footsteps could be heard from behind her.

"This is it. You'll be sharing this room with myself, Roach, and Meat." He shrugged as he retreated to what she assumed was his bunk with the other man... Roach? Yeah, that sounded right. She slid off her backpack, and wondered if she should even bother fully unpacking. She had stayed with the Rangers for two and a half days... Who was to say she'd be here any longer than that?

"Goddamn, where are all these new recruits coming from?" Roach mumbled, looking over at the short woman who was unpacking her stuff across the room.

"Geez Roach, why so hostile? It's alright if you wanna bang her." Ghost replied, looking at his friend.

"Fuc- Wait, what?"

Ghost looked over at him, and Roach could tell that he was smiling under his mask at his expense. He cursed him back, denying it. He hadn't been a huge playboy back home, and that transferred into his lifestyle here. Apparently Ghost had picked up on it since he'd been teasing him about it for a couple of weeks now. He certainly hadn't pegged Ghost for the promiscuous type, but if his teasing was any indication, he had thought wrong.

"Hey, Roach."

He snapped up, surprised to be called by her. She didn't hear their conversation, did she? That would be the end-game if she had.

"Yeah?"

"Where's the mess hall? I'm starving." After the 12 hour flight and missing dinner from the previous day at Firebase, she needed something to eat or else she was gonna collapse.

"Uh, there should be some breakfast or lunch leftovers in the kitchen." It was safe to assume that she wasn't aware of their 'system'. TF141 didn't have a mess hall; they had a kitchen. Every task force member took a turn in make a meal. After everyone had gone, the cycle repeated. Today, Ghost had made scrambled eggs and toast for breakfast, and he had made several pots of Mac'n'Cheese for lunch.

"I hope you like soggy Mac'n'cheese." Ghost smirked again under his mask.

"Anythings fine. Where is the kitchen?" Alexa asked, actually excited to be eating something other than MREs.

"Roach'll take you there, wont you, Roach?" Ghost nugged Roach towards Alexa.

"Yeah, I guess."

"Awesome." Alexa motioned for him to lead the way. He lead her back out into the long hallway and opened a door that was opposite from their room. That was convenience at its finest. As he pushed the door open, Alexa looked over the room. There were several dinner tables scattered around the front of the room. Roach kept walking and pushed into another room. It was a kitchen with all of the necessary tools to make great food.

Roach pointed to a bowl of yellow-orange pasta that was sitting on the counter. "I'll leave you to it, than." Just as he was about to leave, he turned around. "Uh... Any chance that you can, y'know... cook?"

Alexa smiled. "I hope you enjoy instant dinners."

He nodded, a little embarrassed for asking the question. He left in quite a hurry. Alexa looked around, looking for a bowl and a fork. After snooping through the cupboards and finding nothing, she just decided to use the spoon that was sitting in the now cold bowl of food.

Ghost wasnt kidding about it being soggy.

After she had finished off all she could eat, she left the kitchen and went back into the hall way, and peeked into her dorm. No one was there. Looking to the end of the hall, she remembered that everyone had been in what she assumed to be a meeting room when she had first arrived... Maybe they were there now. As she got close to the door, MacTavish suddenly appeared and pulled her in by her shirt front.

"Bloody 'ell, we were wondering where you were. Come get suited up." He pointed to the end of the room, where there appeared to be an open door. "We're taking ACR's." He added as he followed her into the room.

* * *

"There are the men we're going after, mates." MacTavish handed around stapled booklet to all 5 of them. "We land in 5 minutes... Familiarize yourself."

As Alexa got the sheet, she looked at it. The man that they were going over was Alejandro Rojas, a man who had some-what tanned skin and short, dark brown hair. He had matching brown eyes as well, with a narrow nose that seemed too small for his face until it reached his nostrils, where it than seemed too large for his face. He was wearing a blue ball cap and a black scarf-like piece of cloth wrapped around his neck. In his description, it listed his height at 5'11, weight at 196 pounds, and his nationality unknown. He apparently had a long military history. On the second sheet of paper, there was a picture of a bald, dark skinned man with an angry, intense look. This was apparently Roja's assistant, however there wasn't any information on his appearance aside from the picture.

When the small plane had landed, the group of six proceeded to two jeeps that were waiting on them.

"Ghost, Royce, and Meat, take the second jeep. You'll be backup." He pointed at the three of them and pointed backwards with his thumb at their jeep. "Echo, Roach, with me."

The three of them piled into the jeep, with Roach riding shotgun, Alexa behind him, and MacTavish beside her. The driver than took them from the small airport into the city of Rio de Janeiro.

* * *

"Ghost, the plates are a match." MacTavish said into his radio.

"Copy. Any sight of Roja's right hand man?"

"Negative. They've stopped twice already... No sign of him." MacTavish mumbled into his radio as he watched the truck in front of them intently.

Alexa was watching the truck from the space just beside Roach's head. Mavtactish was right; they'd stopped twice already and there was no sign of Roja or his assistant. She had been staring at a hula doll that was perched on the dash; watching it 'dance' was a lot more interesting than keeping eyes on the van in front of them.

"Wait... They've stopped. Standby. Got a positive ID! Whoever these guys are, they're not happy to see him..." MacTavish called into his radio as he watched two heavily armed men jump out of the van that they were tailing and walk towards two open grand doors with glass in them. Roja's assistant approached them calmly even as one pulled out a pistol. He suddenly lunged forward, taking the pistol and shooting down both of the men before they could react.

"Shit! Ghost, we have a situation here!" MacTavish screeched.

A third man came around from the drivers side, hiding behind the back of the van for cover. As he moved forward to shoot at the man, he was shot in the head. Suddenly he was aware of them, and began firing on them.

"Get down, get down!" MacTavish cried, pushing down Alexa with him.

"Fuck...!" Alexa swore as he pushed her down. Everyone in the car ducked, but their driver hasnt fast enough. He was hit in the head and his blood and brain tissue was splattered all over the front of the car as his head landed on the horn, making the loud noise never-ending. The hula doll that she had been watching on their drive fell off its stand on the dashboard. She pitied Roach for having to witness sight that close up.

"Here's getting away! Roach, Echo; lets go!"

Alexa busted open her door as she saw the man take off down the next street. Civilians were screaming and ducking for cover in the background as he fired at them. She began sprinting, finding her place in the line behind MacTavish and in front of Roach.

"Ghost! Our drivers dead! We're on foot! Meet us at the Hotel Rio and cut him off if you can!

"Roger, I'm on my way!" Ghost's familiar British voice came into their earpieces.

Alexa had to push a civilian out of the way to avoid trampling him. Somehow the whole place had gone to hell; with the civilians running around to try and get away from the gunshots, they had run into the streets, where cars had begun to hit each other in the madness. As the three of them ran out into the street beside parked and crashed cars to get across, she saw Ghost, who was running down the side of the street they had just crossed onto.

"He went into the alley!" MacTavish yelled.

They all skidded to make the sharp turn into the alley, which started with a couple of stairs that the group had avoided climbing by clearing it with a jump.

"Non-lethal take downs only! We need him alive!"

Roach suddenly took off, passing her and MacTavish. He led them with a quick right turn followed by another left. Alexa had caught up with him just to see him aiming down his sights.

"Roach, take the shot! Go for his leg!"

Roach fired, and hit the man in the calf. He fell forwards, doing a face-plant into the cement stairs that he was about to ascend.

"He's down." Ghost stated.

The group approached him, weapons drawn. Alexa managed to reach him first, looking him over for weaponry of any kind. Upon seeing the pistol that he had dropped when he was shot, she kicked it away. He was cursing all of the words possible. MacTavish come over, and picked him up by the back of his shirt.

"Over here, Captain." Ghost called, lifting up a metal door that trucks would back into for unloading purposes. He climbed in, and MacTavish handed him up to Ghost before climbing in himself. He cast a look back at Alexa that told her to join them in the room. As she lifted herself into the small room, Ghost had thrown the man into a metal chair that was bolted to the ground.

"Echo, grab the duct tape." She looked around the room before her eyes had settled on a table at the back. She threw the tape at MacTavish and watched him as he taped the man to the chair. He seemed limp, and she guessed that he might have passed out.

Ghost bent down and took a roll of gauze from his pocket.

"Through and through. Saves us time." He began wrapping the hole in the mans calf. When he finished he went to the corner of the room, looking for something.

Just as MacTavish had finished taping him to the chair and had placed a piece over his mouth, his eyes suddenly shot open and he looked around, looking absolutely terrified.

"Roach, this is gonna take some time. Go with Meat and Royce and check out the favela for any sign of Rojas; that's where this guy was headed."

All Alexa heard was Royce saying "Lets go" as MacTavish shut the heavy metal door of the loading dock.

Ghost was holding two electric clamps and kept looking back at the man. Alexa sat in the corner on a backwards chair, her ACR Grenadier with ACOG sight held close. She had never tortured something for information before; she was used to laying in wait and observing or going in and taking it. Judging from Ghost's demeanor though, she guessed that he was quite used to it. She stole at look at MacTavish who was staring daggers at the man.

"I'm sure that you know why you're here." MacTavish said to the man in his strong voice, coating with the heavy accent.

The man was still squirming in the chair that he was heavily duct-taped to. Although, Alexa had a feeling that if they un-duct taped him, he would spit on them or curse them out. By un-taping him, they gave him something of an "advantage"... It was hard to explain. The human psyche worked in mysterious ways.

"So how about you tell us what we want to know, and I promise that the consequences will be **far** less severe." The captain continued, taking a step closer to the man. Their eyes caught for a moment before he reached and ripped off the duct tape on his mouth.

And there it was; he had spat right onto MacTavish's face. She had called it.

MacTavish took a step back, and swung a powerful punch to his check. As the man spat blood, and what appeared to be a tooth, Ghost stepped up.

"I've always wanted to electrocute someone." His smug British voice came from under his balaclava as he sparked the jumper cables again. "Guess today's the today."

"Do what you will, but I'm not telling you assholes shit!" He spat, staring up at Ghost. "What's up with the mask, bro? Face too ugly?"

"What are you, five?" Alexa hissed from her corner.

The man tried to turn his head to face her, but could only see her one leg from his vantage point.

"So I wasn't imagining the chick. What kind of torture are you gonna put me through, hun?" He laughed. "Please, I'd like to know."

MacTavish threw another punch, but this one on the other side of his face with his opposite hand to get him to look at him. He grabbed his chin and cheek area with his rough hands, and squeezed against his jaw bone.

"We came here for information. Don't think that we're going to leave without it." He growled.

"Than I guess we're gonna be here for a long time." He retorted.

Alexa had just about enough of his asshole. Roach, Royce, and Meat were depending on this intel to capture Rojas. Rojas would lead them to Makarov. And than she would justify Allen's death. Swinging her one leg over the chair back, she set down her gun on the table beside her chair and tightened her gloves before cracking her knuckles.

"Ghost, attach those cables." She commanded, moving to stand next to MacTavish. He was easily a foot taller than her, which the man started laughing about.

"Goddamn, you're a solider? I've a dog bigger than you... But you're defiantly cuter."

"Funny, I have toy poodle that looks just like you." She replied as Ghost moved forward to attach the cables. He rolled up the mans shirt and clamped the two cables onto the mans nibbles, which he howled at.

She walked back to the table and grabbed an un opened water bottle, and looked through her pocket to grab a salt packet. She always kept them on hand so that if she down seriously injured, she would be able to stay awake by applying it to the wound. Hurt like a bitch, but did it's job. Mixing the salt into the water and shaking it, she walked back over to the man who had now calmed himself about the clamps.

"You ever take electricity and conductivity in science back in high school?" She asked, opening the bottle of murky water.

"Hell no." He retorted, scowling.

"You're about to learn something, than." She splashed some of the water on his chest and motioned to Ghost to switch on the electricity. He did so, and the three watched him scream as the volts entered his body. After a few seconds, he turned off the source and Alexa took a step closer to the man. His chest was completely ashy and burnt from the electricity and its heat.

"Feel like telling us anything yet?"

"No..." He wheezed.

"I guess the torture continues." Alexa shrugged. "Ghost, we'll just continue this with 10 seconds intervals. If you feel like telling us something, yell uncle."

The three of them went towards the back of room and Ghost turned on the source and the mans screams filled the room. MacTavish nodded at Alexa.

"That was unexpected; although crude, it just might work. Good work, Echo." He patted her on the back. He took a step away from the group and turned around.

"Royce, gimme a sit-rep, over!" MacTavish suddenly called over the radio.

"Lots of militia but no sign of Rojas over here, over!"

"Copy that; keep searching! Let me know if you see him, out!" MacTavish replied, sighing.

"Man, what did you do before coming here?" Ghost asked, taking a seat on the giant battery they were getting the energy from.

"3rd Special Forces, special reconnaissance and unconventional warfare."

"That was fucking unconventional, all right." Ghost replied, and she could tell that he was smirking. He seemed to do a lot of that. It was weird; during the take down earlier, he was calm, cool, and collect, but when he didn't have a weapon in his hands, he seemed to play the snarky comedy release for the task force.

"I didn't think that'd he'd last this long though." Alexa looked at her watch. He'd gone a whole 4 times, including the starting one.

"Should be any time now." MacTavish replied, looking at his own watch.

After the 2 minute marked, he finally screamed uncle. MacTavish shrugged as Alexa looked at him. Ghost turned off the battery as the two walked over the man.

"So, what would you like to tell us?"

The man was breathing heavily. The skin around the clamps had turned black.

Alexa leaned in close to his face, staring at him. He spat in her face as he had done for MacTavish. She spat back on his face as a retaliation.

MacTavish started to step in, she signalled for him to stop. She regain her composure and stood back up before quickly landing a punch right on his nose bridge.

He yowled as his nose started bleeding.

"Ghost, lets keep it up. Apparently he doesn't understand the system." MacTavishnodded at Ghost.

"No, wait!" The man cried just before he was electrocuted. After the ten seconds of screaming stopped, he pleaded for them to stop.

"I'll tell you what you want to know... Just no more."

"That's more like it." MacTavish grinned.

* * *

"Lets go." Royce took off in a light jog down the alleyways. "Remember there are civilians in the favela... Watch your fire out there."

As Roach and Royce climbed up a set of stairs, Roach saw Meat already hiding beside a huge garbage bin. Royce ran to one closer to Meat and Roach took cover behind one that had a clear view of his teammates.

"Meat, get these civies outta here."

"Rpger that." Meat stood up and walked towards an odd looking part of the chain link fence separating them from the civilians and various buildings below. Taking a closer look, he realized that a car or something like it had driven threw the fence so there was a huge, warped hole. He watched Meat jump down, followed by Royce as they fired up warning shots. The civilians had begun screaming and running all around as Roach jumped down with his teammates. Suddenly returning gun fire echoed through the favela, and the three of them ducked behind abandoned, broken cars. Roach sighted through the broken window of the car, shooting at a militia man that had ducked out from the near-by building. Up the top of his sight, he saw a man jumped into the roof of the single-level buildings that they were in front of.

"Bravo Six, be advised, we've engaged enemy militia at the lower village!" Royce shouted into his radio. Suddenly he turned and faced Roach. "Roach! Im with you! Watch the roof tops, go!"

Roach readjusted his sight to shoot at the men on the rooftop, and took them down. He crouched a little higher, and looked at all the rooftops in the distance. He swore to himself as he saw more miltia littered on top of them. Taking his sight back down to ground level, he , saw three or so men charging them. Aiming up the first man in the center of his chest, he fired several shots and watched the bodies crash to the ground. The car suddenly started deflecting bullets and Roach dropped down. Royce leaned out from the cover of the car and shot at the man, who ducked quickly to the cover of the building he was shooting from.

"Grenade out." Royce mumbled as he threw a frag into the window, and it exploded a few seconds later.

Suddenly something hit Roach in the shoulder, looking down, he quickly picked up the object and throwing it to the other side of the favela entrance. It exploded in mid-air. Roach took a deep breath to calm himself down before he resumed shooting. More men had returned to shoot from the window that Royce had thrown a frag into a minute ago. He kept back and forth with that window and the path beside it. Royce managed to take down the men and no one came running down the path. Royce and Roach run over to the other side of the entrance to the favela, aiding Meat who was taking cover behind a rusty truck.

They killed wave after wave of militia that approached them until the way to advance was finally clear.

"Royce, gimme a sit-rep, over!" MacTavish suddenly called over the radio.

"Lots of militia but no sign of Rojas over here, over!"

"Copy that; keep searching! Let me know if you see him, out!"

"Roach! Move up! Let's go!" Royce called, motioning to Roach. Roach sprinted towards the house that they were receiving fire from earlier, jumping in through the window that didn't have glass. Civilians suddenly ran out of the house, screaming. When he turned out one of the windows, he saw Meat. He was crouched against a brick wall, occasionally firing through the empty doors and into the rest of the favela. That was something that they could use to their advantage, and certainly were.

Roach took out a few guys from inside the house's cover before exiting and moving towards a turn. A man jumped out, and shot at him, but missed. Roach quickly pulled out a knife from his vest and cut across his throat before setting it back into his vest. That was a skill that he was glad to have learned. Gripping his ACR, he peered around the corner. Lots of activity. Suddenly Royce came up behind him, panting.

"Meat is down, I repeat, Meat is down!" He shrieked.

Roach missed his target, and nearly dropped his gun. Meat is...Dead? Taking a deep breath, he continued shooting, despite how he was feeling. He knew that failure wasn't an option. He was firing with anger now; everyone had to die. Whoever had killed Meat was going to die today.

* * *

**A/N:** Oh shucks. This mission is going to go on over the next two or so chapters. Please review; tell me what you think, positive or negative!


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